Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Ilia Topuria’s Manager Gives Insight on Whether Topuria Will Take On Islam Makhachev Next!

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Ilia Topuria has vacated the featherweight division and the title to move up to lightweight. He has an undefeated record so far and took down two of the greatest fighters (Holloway, Volk) in the sport currently. Now that he’s conquered the featherweight division, Topuria feels like he’s ready to get another title, in the lightweight division.

Islam Makhachev is the current lightweight champion of the UFC and so far nobody has had an answer for the Dagestani. He’s beaten many top ranked fighters in the lightweight division and did not have much problems in doing so. Makhachev has finished his opponents off via submission 13 times in his MMA career and has an overall record of 27-1-0. Now that he’s beaten pretty much everybody in his division, we believe that Makhachev should definitely fight Topuria since these two are the best amongst the best.

Even though most of the UFC fans want Topuria vs Makhachev next, we may have to wait for a while before it happens. Previously, Dana White, told the reporters “there’s other possibilities,” meaning that Topuria may have to fight a contender in the lightweight division before White grants him his wishes to fight for the belt.

Also Read: Dana White Shares Massive News On The Future Of The UFC Heavyweight Division!

Recently Topuria’s manager, Malki Kawa, shared his thoughts on if Topuria’s next fight will be against Makhachev. Let’s find out what he said.

What did Malki Kawa say about Topuria’s chances to take on Makhachev?

Malki Kawa, Topuria’s manager shared his thoughts on his client’s chances to fight Makhachev for the lightweight belt in the Ariel Helwani show. When he was asked by Helwani about if Topuria’s first fight at 155 pounds will be against Islam, he said “I’ve been in this for 20 years right? Do you really think that we make moves without… We don’t just jump from here to there without having a conversation in certain things.”

Kawa continued “So, no one told us that we couldn’t fight for the title. Till this day no one has said that you’re not fighting for the title. So I’ll leave it there.”

Helwani then asked Kawa if there’s any chance that Topuria is going to vacate his featherweight belt before a title shot against Islam. Kawa replied “Well I don’t think it makes sense for him (Topuria) to fight anybody else when he’s a champion and if we’re being honest, this is probably the biggest fight you can make right now, outside of Bones vs Aspinall.”

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What do we think about the Topuria-Makhachev situation?

In our opinion, Islam Makhachev should take the fight and give us fans what we want. There’s a lot of politics going on in the UFC currently but all fans want to see are the best fighters going against each other.

Fighting against somebody like Topuria, who’s considered to be one of the best currently and a champion, will significantly boost Makhachev’s legacy if he ends up winning. Whereas if Topuria wins, he’ll only be the 10th fighter in UFC history to win belts in multiple divisions.

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

No matter who wins the fight, it will certainly bring in the views and the revenue which Dana White wants. So we just want one thing from Dana White; make this fight happen!

Also Read: ‘He has to be my friend now that I’m friends with Adesanya’ – Alex Pereira Urges Former Champion to be his friend!

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.