Ilia Topuria has put Lone'er Kavanagh on the map. After Kavanagh's unanimous decision win over Felipe dos Santos in London in March 2025, Topuria singled him out on the Joe Rogan Experience and said the young flyweight is coming up at 125 and will be a problem in that division.
That kind of praise matters because Kavanagh is still early in his UFC run. He had only two UFC fights when the shoutout started spreading, a reminder that the sport's biggest voices can accelerate a prospect's rise long before the rankings catch up. For Kavanagh, the attention lands just after a win that kept his momentum moving in the right direction.
Kavanagh's path helps explain why the compliment carried weight. He made his professional debut in 2019 with a second-round TKO over Glody Matusiwa, then won four more fights before earning a UFC contract by knocking out An Tuan Ho in the first round on Dana White's contender series. Three months later, he made his UFC debut and beat Jose Ochoa by unanimous decision. The London win over dos Santos was another clean result, but it was Topuria's words that turned a solid run into a wider conversation.
Topuria did not stop at calling Kavanagh a future problem. He described him as a very skilful fighter, which points to the style that is making people notice him: movement, timing and the kind of composure that lets a fighter bank rounds instead of hunting for a finish every time. That matters at 125, where narrow margins can separate prospects from breakouts and where two UFC wins can look far more valuable than a longer record built outside the promotion.
The part that keeps the story honest is also the part that makes it interesting. Kavanagh is being framed as one of the UFC's most exciting young talents, and even Ilia Topuria and Jon Jones have tipped him to be the next superstar, but the public push came when he was still carrying only two UFC fights. He is no longer just a name on a card or a promising debutant; he is now a fighter other elite names are using as a marker for the next wave at flyweight.
Kavanagh said he was very grateful for everything that has happened and called it crazy to see Topuria, someone he looked up to, give him a shoutout on Joe Rogan. What comes next is still the open question. The talk is bigger than his record for now, and the next fight will tell whether the praise becomes a rung on the ladder or just the loudest moment of an early run.
