UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski said he will teach Ilia Topuria a lesson in humility when he fights him on February 17 at UFC 298.
Topuria had previously edited his social media profile, putting a win over Volkanovski on his stats ahead of time and stating that he is the UFC's featherweight division champion.
He will have to go to his page after the fight and change 15-0 to 14-1 on his profile. It’s going to be a big lesson in humility. And I want him to do it himself – not his manager or anybody else, but for him to personally go in and change the record and change the ‘champion’ to ‘challenger’.
Alexander Volkanovski
Volkanovski, 35, last fought against Islam Makhachev in October 2023 at UFC 294. In that confrontation, Alexander suffered a first-round knockout defeat. He has 26 wins and three losses on his record.
Topuria, 26, last stepped into the octagon against Josh Emmett in June 2023 at UFC on ABC 5. That fight went the full distance and ended in Ilia's favor by unanimous decision. He has 14 wins and no losses on his record.