Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Ilia Topuria’s Manager Gives Fiery Response To Islam Makhachev’s Manager

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

We all know that Ilia Topuria dominated when he fought in the featherweight division. He is undefeated in his MMA career so far and is a perfect 16-0-0. He beat the living hell out of Alexander Volkanovski and put him to sleep in the second round of the contest. Topuria also beat Max Holloway who is a future hall of famer and there was quite literally no competition left for him in the featherweight division. While many argue that Topuria should have remained in the featherweight category and defended his title more than once, the fact remains that Topuria is just too good.

Ilia Topuria will vacate his undisputed UFC featherweight title with plans to move up to lightweight, Dana White announced.

Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes will fight for the vacant featherweight title at UFC 314 in Miami on April 12. pic.twitter.com/36OYhxKdzk
— ESPN (@espn) February 20, 2025

Why did Topuria move to lightweight division?

The move to lightweight division just made more sense for the Georgian native. While the competition level in featherweight is not exactly good, that is not the case in lightweight category. This division has lots and I mean lots of talent and stiff competition such as Arman Tsarukyan, Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Dan Hooker, just to name a few. It will not be as easy as it was for Topuria in the featherweight division. However, Ilia believes that he can dominate anywhere he goes and he desperately wants to fight Islam Makhachev for the title. These two having been teasing the fans for a long time and since Topuria is now in the lightweight division, the fight could happen very soon.

Islam, if I want to, I can finish you.if I want to, I can knock you out. I'll make it look easy. Se you soon 😉
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) January 19, 2025

Recently Makhachev’s manager, Rizvan Magomedov, stated that Topuria needs to prove that he’s a legit lightweight before he can challenge Makhachev for the title. This did not sit right with Topuria’s manager who responded. Let’s see what he said.

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Topuria’s team wants to go straight for Islam Makhachev

Topuria’s manager, Malki Kawa, thinks that his client has what it takes to challenge Islam for a fight already and does not want to waste time climbing up the ranks.

Kawa said “I don’t really come on here (Instagram) anymore and I kinda stay to myself but when certain managers come out there and talk about a guy’s too small, shouldn’t move up, he (Topuria) needs to fight someone else, let’s just make sure we get the facts straight.”

He continued “He (Topuria) knocked out Volk (Volkanovski) in his first opportunity to knock him out. The fight wasn’t close. When your client (Makhachev) fought Volk, he struggled with him the first time. Don’t forget that. Second. He beat, knocks him out, and then he knocks out Max Holloway, who happens to be one of the greatest 45ers of all time… I’m not sure why he doesn’t deserve a shot at 155 but I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want my client to fight Ilia Topuria either.”

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The fight will most likely happen very soon. Topuria’s team and himself, are all in and committed to making the fight happen as soon as possible and quite frankly, Makhachev seems to have been dodging a potential fight between him and Topuria for a while now.

Even if Topuria has to climb up through the ranks, it shouldn’t take him much time to get there. If the fight happens between the two, it will probably be the biggest fight we’ll witness in recent years.

Also Read: Shavkhat Rakhmonov Injury Update: What happened to Shavkhat Rakhmonov?

Ilia Topuria

Islam Makhachev

UFC

Eric Divakaran

nba

nfl

mma

I cover the National Football League and things cannot get better than that. I always dreamed to play football or basketball professionally since I’m built like a Running Back. But now that I can’t, since I’m technically in the “Unc” age, I thought why not pick a career in sports industry? So here I am, doing what I love, and hoping that the Commanders win the Super Bowl. I give love to players when it’s due, but can be critical about their performances at the same time. Enough about me, now let my articles do all the talking.