Despite being on hiatus, Ilia Topuria has not hesitated to call up newly minted UFC welterweight queen Islam Makhachev again.
Topuria has retired from fighting due to personal reasons and will return after the first quarter of 2026. In the meantime, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett will battle at UFC324 for the interim lightweight championship, and the winner will fight ‘El Matador’ to unify the titles when he returns.
Topuria recently appeared in an interview with Eldoberdan MMA and fired shots at Makhachev. The Georgian-Spaniard claimed that the P4P king had not signed the deal to fight him.
According to the UFC lightweight champion, Makhachev has never had a fight with an opponent like him and he will put the 34-year-old to sleep. Topuria said:
“Everyone knows it’s a fight that everyone wants to see, and for some reason he hasn’t accepted it, and then he talks too much. It’s very easy to talk from thousands of miles away and criticize me, but when you have me in there, octagonyou start to realize that I’m not Jack Della Maddalena, I’m not Dan Hooker, I’m not all those guys you’ve been dealing with. I am something completely different, and if I lay my right hand on you, you will see that you will sleep for a long, long time.
Check out Ilia Topuria’s comments below:
Topuria vs. Makhachev was a foregone conclusion until Belal Muhammad lost his welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, at which point the Russian fighter moved up to give chase. glory in two divisions and was successful.
Likewise, after Islam Makhachev vacated his lightweight throne, Ilia Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to capture the vacant championship at UFC 317.
Now Topuria wants to fight Makhachev at welterweight and hopes to dethrone the latter and achieve a third UFC gold. He has also floated the idea of a pound-for-pound belt that would see the two fight at catchweight, as the Russian fighter has no plans to move up to 155 pounds until the promotion makes an offer that’s hard to refuse.
Ilia Topuria says he will step on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s head
Ilia Topuria has sent a chilling warning to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Topuria wants to present Makhachev to ‘The Eagle’ and says that he will also step on his head. During the same interview, ‘El Matador’ joked:
“I consider the ground to be my strong point, but lately I’ve accepted that it’s not what the crowd wants to see, although with Islam it might be something the crowd wants to see. Dominate him standing, give him three or four punches where I need to hit him, and then put him in front of Khabib and if he wants to pass, I’m happy to step on his head too.”
Check out Ilia Topuria’s comments below:
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