Muhammad Dismisses Value of Makhachev Beating Topuria
If a matchup between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria is booked, the concern for Belal Muhammad is that fans will once again attempt to discredit his teammate’s accomplishments. Muhammad told MMAFighting.com that it diminishes the significance of the fight.
“It’s crazy,” Muhammad said, speaking to MMA Fighting. “The people never want to give Team Khabib [Nurmagomedov] their respect. They want to see them lose so badly. They just want to shun them and put hate on them no matter what it is. When he beats [Alexander] Volkanovski, who was the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world at that time in a close fight it’s like, ‘Oh he sucks … he didn’t finish him, he should have finished him, he’s a 145er’ and then he goes out there and finishes him and it’s like, ‘Well Volkanovski’s a ‘45er.’
“So now Topuria, I think he’s a little bit smaller than Volkanovski, he’s going to move up and if Islam dominates him, [then it’s] ‘Oh well, he’s a ‘45er, he can go back down.’ There’s really nothing to gain for Islam for fighting him.”
Makhachev’s team has said that if Topuria can win a No. 1 contender fight at lightweight against someone like Charles Oliveira, then the showdown would make more sense. Some are skeptical of that happening, however, as Topuria just vacated a title. Topuria and Oliveira have gotten into a war of words as of late, which might be music to Makhachev’s ears.
