Michael Bisping: It would be a ‘massive market opportunity lost’ if Islam Makhachev doesn’t fight Ilia Topuria

Michael Bisping thinks Ilia Topuria will get his wish to fight UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Although Makhachev doesn’t like the idea of fighting another featherweight, Bisping thinks it would be silly for the UFC to risk jeopardizing a big fight between Makhachev and Topuria.

Justin Gaethje called for a title shot after beating Rafael Fiziev Saturday at UFC 313, and Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira are eager for their rematches with Makhachev. If Topuria ends up in a No. 1 contender bout instead, Bisping sees that as a risky move by the UFC.

“Realistically, there’s a ton of options for Ilia Topuria, but the reality is, Islam Makhachev has got to fight somebody soon, and so does Ilia Topuria,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Justin Gaethje wants to fight for the belt, but Justin Gaethje really doesn’t give a sh*t right now. I think Justin Gaethje is happy making the phenomenal amount of money that he is and just going out there and being able to be himself.

“So realistically, any of those guys that I just mentioned: Islam, Arman, Charles, Justin, any single one of them. And it might be one of them. But it’s probably going to be, if you asked me to bet, I think Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria. Any of those guys – Arman, Charles, Justin – sure, they’d all be phenomenal fights and they’d all have a realistic chance of potentially beating Ilia Topuria.”

Bisping sees Makhachev vs. Topuria as one of the biggest fights the UFC could make.

“Granted, Ilia is special, but if he lost to them, there’s a massive market opportunity lost there, because Ilia vs. Islam – Ilia with the rise, Ilia still being in a lot of people’s minds the featherweight champion against the lightweight champion – there’s something there,” Bisping said. “If he loses to Gaethje, but then two or three fights later gets a shot, it’s not quite the same sell.

“The public wouldn’t be quite still as invested. So I think they’re going to give him the title fight. I think Islam is going to take it. Granted, he wants a shot at becoming a two-weight champion, but he’s going to have to wait for a while because of Belal (Muhammad). So in the meantime, you take out Ilia Topuria, which would be an absolutely blockbuster fight.”