Ilia Topuria may need to pump the brakes on chasing Islam Makhachev at welterweight, at least for now.
Topuria has some immediate business to handle, as he will be fighting for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship on Saturday. He’ll face former 155-pound titleholder Charles Oliveira in the UFC 317 main event. Meanwhile, Makhachev has secured a shot at Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC Welterweight Championship at a date to be announced.
Topuria has made it clear that he wants to throw hands with Makhachev, and he’s even open to moving up to 170 pounds to do so.
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Dana White Cools Down Topuria’s Welterweight Talk
During the UFC Baku post-fight press conference, Dana White was asked about Ilia Topuria’s remarks about following Islam Makhachev to welterweight. White mindset is one fight at a time.
“Listen, we’ll see how this thing plays out,” White said. “He just moved up, we’re already talking about him going to 170? I mean, he just moved up. Let’s see how he does in this fight and we’ll see how Islam does. They definitely want to fight each other.”
Topuria has looked in top form against all-time greats in Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski at featherweight. Some are wondering if that success will transition well to the lightweight division. If “El Matador” can put Charles Oliveira away in the same fashion he has against Holloway and Volkanovski, it’ll leave fans clamoring for Topuria vs. Makhachev even more.
The holdup is obviously the fact that Makhachev is now in a different weight class. If Makhachev captures gold at 170 pounds, many will wonder if we’ll ever get to see the matchup against Topuria. The silver lining is that White mentioned the fact that both Topuria and Makhachev have expressed interest in the fight at some point.
