Movsar Evloev believes it is not a good idea for Ilia Topuria to fight Islam Makhachev at welterweight. Lightweight champion Topuria has long been looking forward to a match against welterweight champion Makhachev. Currently, Topuria is expected to fight interim champion Justin Gaethje in a title unifier. While Evloev was impressed with Gaethje’s interim title win over Paddy Pimblett last month, he believes “The Highlight” is highly susceptible to a knockout against Topuria. However, Evloev believes Topuria doesn’t stand a chance at welterweight against Makhachev, who is visibly bigger and on a different level.
Another level
“It’s a stupid move,” Evloev said Submission radio. “I think if Ilia does this, he will lose everything. But he has the strength to fight at lightweight level, and I don’t think it will be a good fight for Gaethje if they fight. Gaethje’s fight [against Pimblett] was so good, but he missed a lot of punches. That’s not a good idea with Ilia. If
[Ilia] hits [Justin]he will knock him out, but with Islam that won’t happen. Islam is so big and on a different level.”
Topuria (17-0) was the featherweight champion when he began calling for a double championship bid against then-lightweight champion Makhachev. However, Makhachev (28-1) was only willing to give Topuria a title shot after “El Matador” was tested at lightweight. Makhachev eventually vacated the title and moved up to welterweight, where he dethroned Jack Della Maddalena in dominant fashion last November to win the title. Meanwhile, Topuria defended the featherweight title just once before moving up to lightweight, where he knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the vacant title last year.
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