Anthony Joshua references Ilia Topuria’s shocking defeat to Justin Gaethje on the UFC White House card when discussing his own mindset in the build-up to his highly anticipated return.

The UFC Freedom event held at the White House in Washington, DC, was headlined by a lightweight title clash between two all-time greats in mixed martial arts (MMA), Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.

Many believed Topuria would be too much for Gaethje, given that he was undefeated at the time and had knocked out huge names such as Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira.

Gaethje was coming into the fight as the much older man at 37 years old, and he had also suffered losses to the likes of Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira.

Speaking exclusively to Combat Evolved in association with Pure Digital PR, the former heavyweight champion of the world, Anthony Joshua, claims he watched Topuria’s loss and took a valuable lesson from it.

“When I watched that Ilia Topuria fight, I stopped replying to people after that, because it’s not a joke. I saw someone in Ilia who was destined to win; the stars were aligned for him to be victorious. I think Ilia had beaten people who Justin had lost against, so the odds were in his favour.”

Joshua then referenced the videos of Topuria celebrating before the fight had even taken place. “This is what I’m saying with Ilia, not that it is a bad thing, but I saw him celebrating before. He is entitled to do what he wants, but I just took something from it, to get back to being uncontactable, less accessible, because the fight game is just so serious. You saw his (Topuria) face, what he went through; it’s not a joke, man.”

He went into further detail about what it is like having the wrong people around you who aren’t supportive for the right reasons. “I want to improve, I want to stay away from people who don’t get what this fight game is about, who think it is just lit and want to be there for the bright lights and entertainment. I want to create a little army of soldiers who love fighting.

“I want all my friends to be in that fight mentality. You know what I mean? I don’t want people around who are over here for partying; my friend is over here for this. My army is fight-focused.”

Joshua is fully dialled in ahead of his comeback fight against Kristian Prenga, taking place on July 25th. A win for Joshua could finally see him face off against his long-time rival Tyson Fury towards the end of 2026.