This is an Open Scoring MMA News Alert.

Ilia Topuria's cheating allegation just hit a wall. According to Bloody Elbow, one of the top regulators overseeing UFC Freedom 250 has shut down the former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion's recent suggestion that something was off with Justin Gaethje's gloves.

The claim stems back to the biggest loss of Topuria's career. He and Gaethje fought on June fourteenth, 2026, with Gaethje defeating him via fourth-round TKO (corner stoppage).

Our Elo model has both men rated close together based on their six tracked bouts each, with Topuria at fifteen ninety-nine and Gaethje at fifteen seventy-nine. It is a tight number that reflects how competitive that fight actually was before the finish, and it is part of why Topuria's allegation carries weight with fans even if the regulator is now denying it outright.

Bloody Elbow did not detail exactly what Topuria alleged was wrong with the gloves, only that the claim has been made and that a UFC Freedom 250 official has pushed back on it. Still, the timing matters. Topuria fought on June 14, 2026, losing to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250, and any suggestion of foul play keeps the door open for him to argue his case for a rematch rather than simply moving on in the lightweight pecking order.

For Gaethje, the denial is a clean bill on a title defense that already had him at the top of the division. For Topuria, the regulator's response makes it harder to turn a bad night into a grievance, and puts more pressure on him to answer for the loss inside the cage instead.