Ilia Topuria won’t get his wish according to Ali Abdelaziz.

Topuria has said he was contemplating retirement before suffering the first loss of his professional career in a stunning upset in June.

In two recent interviews, ‘El Matador’ spoke about this setback only making his fire burn brighter than before as he laid out his plans for the future.

While Justin Gaethje has previously hinted at changing his mind on a rematch between them, neither this nor the fans have convinced the manager of the current champion.

We need you to settle the debate🔊 Who should Justin Gaethje defend his belt against next and why?

Arman Tsarukyan seems undeniable, but Ilia Topuria has recently ruffled feathers👀

Ali Abdelaziz is certain that Ilia Topuria will never get a rematch with Justin Gaethje

Ilia Topuria tagged Dana White after asking fans to vote on a poll that presented two options, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett.

Somewhat surprisingly, ‘The Highlight’ came out on top with 55% of the fans preferring to see a rematch of the UFC Freedom 250 main event.

Topuria spoke about wanting to pursue this option when he sat down with One On One to reflect on everything that has happened since the fight.

“All I can say is congratulations, but our story is far from over,” he said. “We are going to have more chapters, that’s for sure.”

In a post that appears to now have been deleted, Gaethje’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, posted his response to the comments from ‘El Matador’.

His message on social media also made reference to Topuria saying his brother may have saved his career by calling off the Gaethje fight before the fifth round got underway.

“This rematch will never happen, and I agree with him – his brother saved his life,” Abdelaziz wrote on X, as shared by Championship Rounds. “It’s very hard to come back from the trauma of a fight like that. I’ve seen Justin do this to many people, and coming back wasn’t easy for them. Wishing him the best of luck.”

Abdelaziz has previously said that he wants Gaethje to fight one more time in whatever matchup will earn him the most money, which could work in his former opponent’s favor.

Ilia Topuria highlighted his own star status as his biggest bargaining chip

During his interview with One On One, Ilia Topuria pointed out that despite his stock taking a big hit in June, he’s still the biggest fight out there for all of the other top lightweights.

The questions surrounding how he will bounce back from his first loss could even amplify this point due to there now being a level of uncertainty surrounding him.

This could strengthen his position in terms of who Justin Gaethje will fight if he is going to return after unifying the lightweight belts.

Given how the fight went, a rematch isn’t the option that makes the most sense, but it does seem likely that it would be the biggest fight to make from Gaethje’s perspective.

Ali Abdelaziz may not be in favor of it considering that his fighter has already passed this test and did it in a way that he’ll likely not be able to top.

That being said, Topuria’s name would still make this the biggest matchup for Gaethje in the lightweight division even after fans watched this play out in June.