The fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria is the most anticipated outside of Jones vs Aspinall. If the two were to fight, it would be one of the biggest fights in UFC history. The undisputed lightweight champ facing the undisputed featherweight champ, that is a must-watch T.V. However, it is never that easy.
Ilia Topuria beat all of his competition in the featherweight division and it looked like he had nothing further to prove. He won the featherweight title, knocked out Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, and remained undisputed throughout his time in the featherweight division. So he decided to leave the featherweight division and move up to fight Makhachev for the belt. Earlier it looked like the fight between Topuria and Makhachev would happen soon but now with all the drama surrounding the 155 division, the chances of that happening looks slim.
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Makhachev has had 4 title defenses so far and 3 of those wins have come against former/current featherweights. The reason why him and his team doesn’t want to fight Topuria is partly because Topuria was in the featherweight division throughout, and beating the Georgian would just mean another win over a featherweight fighter, which could lead people to question the legitimacy of his title defenses. Makhachev and his team also want Topuria to first fight other contenders in the lightweight division before he gets a title shot.
But here’s the thing; Topuria is not just any featherweight fighter and he has the size, fighting skills, is undisputed so far, and the best option for Makhachev right now. Also, nobody in the lightweight division really wants to face Topuria, and neither is the Georgian interested in fighting other contenders for now. Not to mention that Topuria has finished 6 of his 8 UFC fights so far. So it is for the best if Makhachev accepts the fight against him but of course we the fans can’t always get what we want.
Recently, Gilbert Burns and Renato Moicano shared their thoughts on if Islam should face Topuria next, and this is what they said.
In Renato Moicano and Gilbert Burns’ podcast Show Me The Money, the two weighed in on if Makhachev should fight Topuria next. Moicano started first and said-
“I don’t know personally, what they’re going to do because in my opinion Islam has 1 or 2 defense on the lightweight and I think he wants to go up.” Moicano continued, “But he cannot fight Belal Muhammad and I don’t know the reasons. I think he wants but Khabib (Nurmagomedov) doesn’t want to fight because they are like brothers… I don’t know. I think Islam is just waiting to see if Belal loses to Jack Della Maddalena.”
Then Burns shared his thoughts and said “I would put Topuria vs Islam for sure.” Moicano interrupts stating that Islam doesn’t want the fight (which is true) but Burns goes on to say,
“Yeah but we can talk (about it) you know... I think that’s the fight… If Islam beat Topuria they’re gonna say ‘he beat another 145,” but I don’t think so. That 145 is a freaking champion and he put freaking Volkanovski to sleep and Max Holloway to sleep and he’s a big star right now. I think Pereira was the number one undisputed in the UFC, then he lost… Who’s the next one now? Topuria is there bro… Me as a fan, I’ll make Ilia Topuria vs Islam Makhachev, and then Arman Tsarukyan vs Justin Gaethje.”
Fans, UFC’s fighters, and everybody else wants to see the fight between Topuria and Makhachev. Not only will it fulfill fans’ wishes for this year but it could also bring in huge revenue to the UFC as this is going to be arguably the biggest fight since Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, which happened back in 2018.
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