Anthony Joshua has revealed that a recent UFC fight had a profound effect on his psyche.
The former two-time heavyweight world champion boxer watched MMA’s premier promotion put on a show at the White House on June 14.
In the UFC Freedom 250 main event, Ilia Topuria suffered the first defeat of his career as Justin Gaethje sprung a monumental upset to stop him after four rounds and become the undisputed UFC lightweight champion
How UFC Freedom 250 impacted Anthony Joshua
Anthony Joshua says seeing Ilia Topuria‘s shock loss changed his approach to fight camp.
‘AJ’ got a massive reminder about how brutal combat sports can be when he looked at the damage Justin Gaethje inflicted on the Spanish UFC star’s face.
“I think you’ve got to be in the fight game to truly know it’s not lit. It’s not what people think it is. It’s not all fun and games, it’s a serious, serious, serious job, man,” Joshua said during an interview with Combat Evolved.
“When I watched that Ilia Topuria fight, and who was the other guy he fought? When I watched that fight, I stopped replying to people after that because I said, ‘Yo, it’s not a joke.’
“I saw someone in Ilia who was destined to win, the stars aligned for him to be victorious. I think Ilia had beat people that Justin had lost against. The odds were in his favor, and that’s what I’m saying.
“Ilia, not that it was a bad thing, but I saw him celebrating before. He’s entitled to do what he wants, but I just took something from it, and I said, ‘Get back to being untouchable, less accessible, because the fight game is so serious.’
“You saw his face, what he went through. That’s not a joke, man. It’s not a joke.
Anthony Joshua’s next fight
Anthony Joshua will hope he can avoid a similarly massive upset loss in Saudi Arabia on July 25.
The 36-year-old is set to face 20-1 heavyweight Kristian Prenga in a fight that is being billed as a warm-up.
A mega-money British blockbuster between Joshua and Tyson Fury has already been signed for later this year.
An upset defeat like Ilia Topuria’s would derail the biggest boxing bout the UK has ever seen.
Joshua has made the adjustments to his camp that should prevent that scenario from playing out, but anything can happen in heavyweight boxing.