Mixed martial arts (MMA) officials are weighing in on Ilia Topuria’s accusations against Justin Gaethje, and they are not siding with “El Matador.”
Topuria lost for the first time in his career when he fought Justin Gaethje on the White House lawn in June. The Spanish-Georgian fighter seemed a little too eager and cocky in the early parts of the fight, walking right into Gaethje’s power to chase a quick knockout. That led to damage that would eventually leave him fighting blind with two broken orbitals. His corner would throw the towel in after the fourth round.
We haven’t heard much from Topuria since then until last week, when he released several high-quality promos on Instagram putting a less disastrous spin on the loss and building up an eventual comeback. On Tuesday he was back on X (formerly Twitter) accusing Gaethje of loading his gloves.
“Next time I’ll make sure they check Justin’s gloves so he doesn’t put anything weird on them,” Topuria wrote.
Don’t worry, guy. The commissions already do that.
Andy Foster is the director of the California State Athletic Commission. He was also one of the guys in charge of overseeing the UFC Freedom 250 card in D.C., and he shut down Topuria’s accusation.
“His gloves and wraps were fine and totally within regulations,” Andy Foster told USA TODAY Sports. “Also well inspected by multiple inspectors.”
Legendary referee Big John McCarthy also weighed in on social media.
“Trevor Whitman wrapped Justin’s hands with a knowledgeable State inspector watching the entire process,” McCarthy tweeted. “He signs off on that wrap and that it was inspected by him. There is no validity to the allegation in anyway.”
Those who believe Gaethje loaded his gloves point to a growing bulge of wrapping in the palm of Justin’s glove — evidence, they say, that “The Highlight” had used a Plaster of Paris style substance to harden the wraps when sweat is applied. This was the same ‘trick’ Antonio Margarito was caught using in 2009 against Shane Mosley.
This was the last major glove loading scandal in boxing, and while Margarito got off with just a one year sentence it did lead to commissions increasing scrutiny on gloves before and after fights. Not only are hand wrappings checked by an official before a fight, they’re checked again after a fight. Add in the much smaller size of MMA gloves and it would be extremely difficult to sneak loaded gloves into and then out of a fight.
It looks like Topuria will have a chance to find out how he’ll do against Gaethje in a second fight. “El Matador” has made it clear that he wants an immediate rematch, and we’ve never known the UFC to pass up on a massive rematch of the biggest fight of the year.