Ilia Topuria has no regrets about fighting Justin Gaethje, despite breaking four bones and nearly going blind, and wants a rematch.In June, Topuria suffered a brutal beatdown at the hands of Gaethje, losing his lightweight title in the main event of the UFC’s historic White House show.Topuria looked like a completely different person after losing the lightweight title to Gaethje at UFC White HouseGettyThe 29-year-old extended his gratitude to brother Aleksandre for stopping the fight and essentially saving his careerAFPIt marked the first defeat of Topuria’s 18-fight professional career and a harrowing experience that left the former two-division champion’s face completely unrecognisable.The punishment was so severe that Topuria admitted he likely would’ve never fought again had his older brother, Aleksandre, not stepped in to stop the bout before the final round.Yet recalling the traumatic night, Topuria views it as an essential learning curve in his career.Topuria glad for experience of Gaethje ordeal“I had four broken bones: my two orbital bones, my nose and my foot,” Topuria explained, speaking to talkSPORT’s Adam Catterall via One On One MMA in his first English interview since the Gaethje loss.“I was in front of the President of the United States, millions and millions of people behind the cameras, and I was almost blind — I couldn’t breathe with a lot of pain.“It was a real experience, but at the same time I’m glad I had it. Because it taught me it doesn’t matter how hard life can treat you — life continues.“You can let yourself live with the experience of the past and all the things that happened to you, and you just have to keep going. That’s life. We don’t always win.”Asked about his brother’s tough decision to stop the fight when he was on his stool between rounds four and five, Topuria added: “100 per cent [Aleksandre saved my vision].“If he didn’t stop the fight, I probably wouldn’t be able to fight again in my life.“I’m so grateful to my brother that he decided to stop me, because I love what I’m doing.Topuria is confident he will get his rematch with Gaethje ahead of his return to the UFC next yearGetty“I had a bad experience, but I still have a lot of things ahead of me. So it would be very sad to me if I heard from a doctor or from anyone that I wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.”Topuria confident about Gaethje rematchTopuria noted that Gaethje was just as tough as he expected, because everyone fighting at that level is elite.He originally accused the American of tampering with his gloves ahead of their clash, but made it clear he doesn’t want to take any credit away from him as he eyes a rematch with the champion.“All I can say is congratulations, but our story is far from over,” Topuria said of Gaethje.“We are going to have more chapters… I want to have my rematch, and it’s going to happen at some point.“He’s talking about retirement and all that, but [our fight] was the biggest moment in his lifetime and the most amount of money made in his life was also against me.Topuria said he will return to contact training in January and plans on fighting again in the first half of 2027Getty“I don’t think that he’s going to retire without one more paycheck, because he’s not going to have that paycheck with any other opponent.“And not only for Justin, for anyone. You put me against Arman [Tsarukyan], and it’s going to be the biggest fight in his entire life.“You put me against Paddy [Pimblett], and it’s going to be his biggest fight and biggest paycheck.“That tells you that I’m the fight right now in the division.”When is Topuria making UFC return?Topuria will return to contact training this January and expects to fight again in April, May or June.Gaethje, Pimblett and Tsarukyan are all potential opponents for his highly anticipated return.talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Joshua Van and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall miss out.This week, UFC CEO Dana White said he was waiting on Gaethje to make a decision on retirement so he can book his next fight.The lightweight champion has also been linked to a super-fight against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.“I just want to be next to the other legendary fighters that we had in the sport,” Topuria concluded when asked about his future.“I just want to inspire people to give them, I don’t know, a great example, to be someone that they are going to remember as an inspiration.“Sometimes you need to go deep down to know yourself from a different perspective.“I was winning all the time. I didn’t have much motivation anymore, but the fire is bigger now.“Everything that I’m feeling, everything that I want to do, that I want to keep doing, it’s bigger.”