Justin Gaethjes manager attempts to put Ilia Topuria in his place on rematch talk

Ali Abdelaziz says Ilia Topuria doesn't have the power to demand an immediate rematch with Justin Gaethje.

Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was battered in a lightweight title loss to Gaethje, whom Abdelaziz manages, at this past June at UFC Freedom 250. Jon Anik revealed there have been internal talks of a potential rematch, but Abdelaziz shut that idea down.

"He's not fighting Justin Gaethje next," Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. "He doesn't call the shots. Only one guy in the past did that, and his name is Conor McGregor, and he's not Conor McGregor. Nobody is. He was a favorite because everybody thought he was better than Justin. I believe Justin Gaethje will beat him nine out of 10 times. You know why? Justin has his number. I don't think he can beat Justin Gaethje.

"He thinks he can, and he should think he can. He was close to beating Justin Gaethje, but he didn't. At the end of the day, this fight will never happen. I can tell you this: Justin Gaethje has zero gain to beat Ilia Topuria again. ... And the UFC, they do good business. Why put a chance for one of your biggest champions you could have to lose again, and he'll be damaged goods for life. It will be crazy."

Abdelaziz believes Topuria accusing Gaethje of loading his gloves during their fight was just a pitch to run things back and steal attention away from the No. 1 contender bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331, which Tsarukyan won by knockout.

"If this is what he wants to say that he had rocks in his gloves, that's a compliment to Justin Gaethje, how hard he punches," Abdelaziz said. "I'm not going to be insulted by that, because the Las Vegas Commission was there, the D.C. Commission was there, Andy Foster from California was there. He had three commissions watching him about the gloves. But he said that (during) Arman's fight week to take away from Arman and Ruffy's hype.

"This is what Conor used to do, and he did a good job. He got himself in the media."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Justin Gaethje's manager attempts to put Ilia Topuria in his place on rematch talk