After knocking out arguably the two greatest featherweights in UFC history, Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria opted to move up to the lightweight division.
Topuria won the 145-pound title by knocking out Volkanovski in the second round at UFC 298 in February 2024. He defended the title by knocking out Holloway at UFC 308 last October. He relinquished the title to attempt becoming a two-division UFC champion but lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev doesn’t think Topuria deserves a 155-pound title fight.
Topuria claims the fight promotion promised him a title bout in his next fight, and “El Matador” will wait as long as it takes to get it.
“I would like to fight with Islam, that’s for sure. I would like to fight him,” said Topuria on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “I wouldn’t fight for a No. 1 contender fight. If Islam decides he doesn’t want to fight me, I don’t care. I’ll sit until you’re going to have to fight me. You say that you are a world champion, that you’re going to keep dominating the division, all that. I’m here. You can’t keep avoiding me all the time.
“I don’t think they would put me on the sidelines, because I vacated the belt because I told them I wouldn’t fight at 145 again, but I got a promise that I would fight for the title in my next fight. So, how much time you will stop me from fighting?”
