Ilia Topuria - Justin Gaitji: betting tip (cf 1.55) and bets on the fight

Current form 

Ilya Topuria has not appeared in the octagon for a long time, and this is, after all, the main plot point before the fight. The last time El Matador went out to fight was on June 28, 2025. Then he dismantled Charles Oliveira as if it were not a title opposition, but a training sparring match with a bad ending — a knockout in the first round, without questions or reservations. Before that, there were two more episodes from the same series of dominance: Max Holloway, who was stopped by knockout in the third round, and Alexander Volkanovsky, who was sent to sleep in the second.

And that's where the fun begins. Topuria doesn't just win — he does it as if he knows the battle scenario in advance. There is no unnecessary fuss, no emotional swings, no rhythm search. He enters the cage and immediately looks like a man who has already marked the correct answer in a test that the others have just started reading. His job is not hunting, but rather the exact execution of a pre—known algorithm. And the most unpleasant thing for rivals is that this algorithm works against everyone.

17 wins, 0 losses. Seven knockouts, eight submissions, two decision wins. Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, base in Greco-Roman wrestling, experience as a champion of Mix Fight Events. All of this adds up to the image of a fighter who is not just versatile — he is dangerously accomplished. And perhaps the most disturbing thing for the division is the feeling that it has not reached its limit yet.

Current form

Justin Gaitji, on the other hand, lives in a world where there is no limit by definition. There's always the next exchange, the next exchange, the next chance to see who can take the hit the longest. In January 2026, he defeated Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision and took the interim title, being the underdog — and he did it in his signature style: without trying to rewrite himself, just being himself.

Before that, there was Rafael Fiziev, who left on short notice instead of Dan Hooker. Once again, Gaitji did what he does best — he turned the fight into chaos, where the one with the strongest character survives. But if you dig deeper, the Highlight's entire career after UFC 300 in 2024 is not so much climbing as holding a position on top of the pain. Then he lost to Max Holloway by knockout, and this moment became another reminder: the Gaitji style is beautiful, but expensive.

He is 37 years old, and this is no longer just a number. This is accumulated damage, this is a habit of war, which is gradually starting to require too high a fee. 27 wins, 20 knockouts, six decisions, one submission and five defeats are the stats of a man who has never taken the easy road. And that's why his fights almost always end up where words end and pure physics begins. Yes, it's bigger than Topuria. Yes, the arm span is a little more — just an inch, which is almost nothing in the reality of combat. But the problem is something else: he will be up against a man who knows how to close the distance as naturally as he breathes. And this is a completely different mathematics.