Ilia Topuria has stated he won`t be making things easy for Islam Makhachev should Makhachev decide to return to the UFC`s lightweight division in the future.
With a fight scheduled against Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June for the vacant 155-pound championship, Topuria is focused on adding another title to his career, even though he didn`t initially get the desired fight against Makhachev. Makhachev is currently preparing to move up to welterweight later this year to face new champion Jack Della Maddalena, but he has hinted at the possibility of returning to lightweight eventually to try and reclaim his former title.
mirroring Makhachev`s apparent lack of interest in facing Topuria when Topuria moved up from featherweight, “El Matador” is now sending a similar message to the top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter: if he comes back to lightweight, he`ll need to earn his place back in line for a title opportunity.
“You know from the beginning, he wanted to give the impression that he had some sort of decision [to make],” Topuria remarked during a press conference promoting his upcoming bout. “He also said about a week ago ‘My move up to welterweight isn’t going to matter because I’m not planning on vacating my title.’ You remember that right? And I had said before that, I didn’t move up to lightweight to ask anyone for anything and that I was the one in charge.”
“So who got their way, who did what they said? As always, him or me? So after this fight when I have the belt, he can get in line, which is a long one and someone’s eyes will be shining.”
While Makhachev did initially claim he wouldn`t give up his lightweight title even when moving up, that scenario did not unfold as planned.
Just like Topuria had to vacate his featherweight belt upon moving to a new division, Makhachev ultimately had to relinquish his lightweight title to pursue a second championship in the welterweight class.
As a result, neither fighter currently has the chance to become a “champ-champ.” However, Topuria has been clear that his future remains exclusively in the lightweight division, citing challenging weight cuts previously required to reach 145 pounds.
Makhachev may have different ideas about a potential return to lightweight, but Topuria seems more than ready to flip the script, telling the former champion he must earn his way back to a title shot rather than having it handed to him.
The exchange of words between Topuria and Makhachev has intensified recently, but they are not scheduled to fight each other next, and whether this potential clash will ever happen remains uncertain.
