Will Topuria Face Islam Next?

Ilia Topuria is confident that he will fight UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev next. 

Tuporia has been vocal about his desire to become a champion in a second weight class, having conquered the featherweight division. He defeated Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 to secure the title. That was the first time that Volkanovski suffered a stoppage defeat in the weight class. He also ended the Australian’s four-year reign as champion, as Ilia secured his best career win. He made the only defense of his belt against Max Holloway in his next fight at UFC 308. He gave Holloway the first stoppage loss of his career, as Topuria solidified his position as one of the best fighters in the world. 

There were calls on him to have more defenses, with speculation that he could have rematched Volkanovski. However, Topuria made the decision to vacate the belt as Volk will now fight Diego Lopes at UFC 314 for the vacant belt. The belt will officially become vacant once the fight begins. Meanwhile, Makachev secured a first-round submission victory against Renato Moicano in his last fight at UFC 311. There have been several names bandied about for his next title defense, such as Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje.

Oliveira has fought for the title previously, having come up short against Islam. Meanwhile, Justin is the former BMF Champion before he lost his title to Holloway. Oliveira and Justin are coming off wins from their last bouts. They have established themselves at lightweight, giving them more credibility to secure a title shot before Topuria.

Topuria Vs. Islam

However, Ilia has the advantage of being a commercial star as a fight with Islam is arguably much bigger. Ilia Is optimistic that he will fight Islam next. However, Dana White has not necessarily said this is guaranteed. Meanwhile, Joe Rogan also has his own doubts about the situation. Topuria expects his future to be resolved soon, as he was still positive about the prospect of getting that fight. 

“There’s still other possibilities. There’s a lot of s*** going on right now, otherwise I would’ve said…No, he did that. He said, ‘I’ve done everything I can do here, I’m ready to move up.’ And he vacated it. He said, ‘I shouldn’t be holding up anybody’s opportunities.’ I respect when guys do that. I think that he felt that he’d done everything, with the guys that he beat. If you look at who he beat and how he beat them, right? And I don’t think he loved making that weight anymore,” White revealed 

“The UFC promised me I’d fight for the belt. That’s why I vacated it. And they’ve always kept their promise,” Topuria

“I don’t think that’s happening. I wonder what they’re gonna do with Topuria. I like Topuria vs Oliveira. Oliveira is so tall, so dangerous everywhere, huge reach advantage. Those lightweights are real big, Islam’s huge,” Rogan