Mandatory Credit: Craig Kidwell-USA TODAY Sports

Former UFC Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov Shares His Pick For Potential Charles Oliveira vs. Ilia Topuria Fight!

Mandatory Credit: Craig Kidwell-USA TODAY Sports

Charles Oliveira hasn’t fought since November of 2024 and his last fight against Michael Chandler was a solid win for the Brazilian. Since his last fight, Oliveira has been desperate for a rematch and a title shot fight against Islam Makhachev again. The only problem is that Oliveira may have to wait for a chance at redemption a bit longer because Ilia Topuria decided to vacate his featherweight belt and division to move up to lightweight.

Topuria and his team have been very clear about who they want to fight and what they want to do next; Lightweight belt is the target and Makhachev is the opponent to beat. However, Makhachev’s team is not interested in fighting Topuria right away, mainly because the Georgian has not fought any contenders in the lightweight division and Makhachev has taken down 3 current/former featherweight fighters out of his 4 title defense fights, which could potentially put a stain on his legacy.

All the mess and the chaos in the lightweight division has left Topuria and his team in a confused state. Since it looks like Topuria will have to fight someone else other than Makhachev, the question to be asked is who will Topuria fight next? While we do not know the answer to that question yet, there’s been speculations about a potential fight between Topuria and Oliveira. With that being said, a former UFC champ gave his thoughts on who could win the fight between the two. Let us find out more.

Also Read: Paddy Pimblett Confident In His Ability To Finish Michael Chandler At UFC 314!

Khabib Nurmagomedov Think Topuria Would Come Out on Top

Former UFC lightweight champ and the G.O.A.T (in many people’s opinion) thinks that Ilia Topuria can beat Charles Oliveira, if the two were to fight.

In the Pound 4 Pound Podcast, Nurmagomedov sat down with Henry Cejudo to talk about the future of 155 and who Topuria should fight next.

“If (Topuria) beat somebody like Charles Oliveira of course (he should get a chance at the lightweight title).” He continued “You know what I think, I think (Topuria) can beat (Oliveira),” Khabib said.

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According to reports, Oliveira is only interested in taking on a champion and has little to no interest in fighting the likes of Topuria. Therefore it is not known if the two will fight in the future.

Chael Sonnen reveals what Charles Oliveira told him when asked about fighting Ilia Topuria:

"I will only fight [Topuria] if he wins the belt… this is my weight class, I hold a higher ranking, I've been a champion before.

This guy is all talk. If he wants to fight me he needs… pic.twitter.com/WCC8eHcU2Q
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 17, 2025

Islam Makhachev, and the rest of his camp, is hell bent on not wanting to fight Topuria, which makes many believe that the Dagestani is trying to a duck the featherweight champ.

Islam, Khabib, Javier Mendez, and the rest of the crew, think that since the lightweight champ has already gone up against 3 featherweight fighters, there is no need to take on another featherweight fighter immediately. While some fans and former fighters agree that Topuria should take on other contenders, there are others who think that a fight between Makhachev and Topuria should happen right away.

What We Think About the Topuria and Makhachev’s Situation

We believe that it’s a win-win situation for both the fighters. If Islam is to take down Topuria, his legacy will be further cemented and even though Topuria has just moved up, we know for a fact that he is undefeated so far and is one of the most dangerous and established fighters in the UFC.

Also Read: Guy Who Got “Sent To Dagestan 2-3 Years” Used To Train With Islam Makhachev’s Potential Rival!

Meanwhile for Topuria if he goes on to win the fight against Makhachev, it will be one of the biggest upsets in recent memory and Topuria will become one of the few fighters to win titles in multiple divisions. Also, this fight is what the fans want to see and outside of Jones vs Aspinall, there is no other fight that is more anticipated than the one we’re talking about!

Charles Oliveira

Ilia Topuria

Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC

Eric Divakaran

nba

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mma

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