Michael Bisping believes Ilia Topuria is next in line for Islam Makhachev.
Last month, Topuria shocked the MMA world when he willingly vacated his featherweight title, saying he was moving up to 155 pounds to pursue a second belt. Fans quickly questioned whether Topuria would get an immediate crack at Makhachev’s lightweight title, despite the champion openly saying he would rather prefer Topuria prove himself in the new weight class first. But UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping thinks that’s not likely to be the case.
“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 shit right now. I think Justin Gaethje is happy making the phenomenal amount of money that he is and going out there and being able to be himself. …
“So realistically, any of those guys that I just mentioned — Islam, Armen [Tsarukyan], Charles [Oliveira], 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 [is next].”
While Makhachev isn’t completely opposed to facing Topuria, the lightweight champion has made it clear he would like the opportunity to move up a weight class instead. On top of that, he also twice defended his title against then-featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, and so the prospect of fighting another smaller man is less appealing to the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
Unfortunately for Makhachev, there isn’t another obvious contender in the queue at lightweight right now. Armen Tsarukyan was supposed to challenge Makhachev at UFC 311 but withdrew from the bout during fight week, leading UFC CEO Dana White to say he’ll need to re-earn his spot in line. And other options like Gaethje or Charles Oliveira have recent losses on their records. And with Makhachev’s friend Belal Muhammad currently holding the welterweight title, Bisping thinks Makhachev is basically forced into fighting another featherweight.
“Any of those guys — Armen, Charles, Justin — sure, they’d all be phenomenal fights and they’d all have a realistic chance of beating Ilia Topuria,” Bisping said. “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.
“Yeah, if he loses to Gaethje and two or three fights later gets a shot, it’s not quite the same sell. The public won’t be quite as invested. So I think they’re going to give him the title fight. and I think Islam is going to take it. Yes, OK, 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, so in the mean time, you take out Ilia Topuria, which would be an absolutely blockbuster fight.”
There’s still nothing official on when either Topuria or Makhachev will fight next, but Topuria did recently tease a major announcement soon.
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Starting to really look like Bisping is right. Personally, I’d rather see Topuria fight at least one person at lightweight in the rankings before gifting him a shot that he hasn’t earned, but the momentum seems firmly in his corner now.
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Does Ilia Topuria fight Islam Makhachev next?
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