Ilia Topuria wants Islam Makhachev’s UFC title, and he thinks the lightweight champion’s team is on the run.
In a recent interview, Makhachev’s close friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov stated his case for why Arman Tsarukyan deserves the next shot at Makhachev and not Topuria. The gears appear to be in motion for the undefeated Topuria to fight Makhachev in the near future after voluntarily vacating his featherweight belt to change divisions, but nothing is official and Nurmagomedov would like to see Topuria win his next fight at 155 pounds before being given a championship opportunity.
Topuria took to social media to respond to Nurmagomedov’s comments, claiming Nurmagomedov is only trying to protect his fighter.
“Khabib knows I’m the one to take the belt from Islam,” Topuria wrote. “Only reason he doesn’t want Islam to fight me.”
Topuria certainly has more than enough momentum to leap right into a superfight with Makhachev. After a 6-0 start to his UFC career (that included one lightweight appearance against Jai Herbert where he survived an early scare to come back and win via second-round knockout), Topuria ascended to the top of the lightweight division a knockout of champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 and then a knockout of Max Holloway at UFC 308.
With those wins over two legends of MMA, Topuria became the first fighter to defeat Volkanovski in a 145-pound bout and the first fighter ever to finish Holloway via strikes.
He may just jump to the front of the contender line with Tsarukyan missing his chance to challenge Makhachev for the title this past January. Makhachev scored a win over Tsarukyan in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut 2019, but the Armenian standout went on a 9-1 tear to fight his way to rematch. Unfortunately for Tsarukyan, he sustained a back injury a day before UFC 311 and was forced to withdraw, much to the chagrin of UFC CEO Dana White, who said Tsarukyan “will have to fight his way back” to a title shot.
As for Makhachev, his plans could hinge on the result of the UFC 315 main event between welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena. On several occasions, Makhachev has expressed a desire to go to welterweight and become a two-division champion, but his close relationship with Muhammad has prevented such a move.
Should Della Maddalena upset Muhammad, that could open the door for Makhachev to change divisions and immediately become the No. 1 contender at welterweight. That would leave Topuria to fight another big name at 155 pounds, possibly for a vacant or interim lightweight title.
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