It was a crisp and pleasant night in Jacksonville, Florida. There was a notable bite to the air as surging featherweight contender Ilia Topuria stepped inside the Octagon on June. 24, 2023, to face perennial threat Josh Emmett.
The fiery Spaniard's immediate objective was to dispatch a formidable scrapper in Emmett. However, that was only the first step in an ambitious plan he had been scheming for months: to deliver a commanding performance that echoed in the Land Down Under and rattled featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski with a message loud and clear - that he was next.