Written by Ilia Topuria | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Ilia Topuria got almost everything he wanted at UFC 317.
“El Matador” scored a stunning knockout of Charles Oliveira in this past Saturday’s main event to claim a vacant lightweight championship, maintain his undefeated record, and join the exclusive list of UFC fighters to hold titles in two weight classes. He previously reigned as featherweight king, knocking out all-time greats Alexander Oliveira and Max Holloway in championship bouts.
While Topuria is relishing his accomplishment, it was slightly dimmed by Oliveira not being the incumbent champion. The lightweight title was vacated by Islam Makhachev, who is also moving up a division to welterweight to challenge Jack Della Maddalena.
It’s Makhachev that Topuria had in his sights when he jumped up to 155 pounds.
“At some point I was a little bit sad because I didn’t want to fight against [Oliveira] since the beginning,” Topuria told TMZ Sports. “My real goal always was Islam, but since he decided to run away, it has to be Charles.”
“Listen, I think that [Makhachev] took a great decision,” he continued. “If the UFC would offer him to fight against Justin Gaethje or another contender in the division, I think that he would stay at 155, but with me coming up, he was, like, ‘I don’t have to take this risk. I’m going to move up to 170, I’m going to try to get another belt’ and that’s all because he knows that I’m dangerous. He knows that I’m going to put him to sleep. The only reason they don’t want me to fight against him is because they know that I’m going to beat him.”
Makhachev and his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov were previously reluctant to name Topuria as a worthy challenger, given his inexperience at lightweight. It wasn’t until after Makhachev’s close friend Belal Muhammad lost the welterweight title to Della Maddalena this past May that the path became clear for Makhachev to move up to 170 and for the UFC to announce Topuria vs. Oliveira.
That said, Makhachev isn’t off the hook as far as Topuria is concerned. If Makhachev beats Della Maddalena, Topuria is willing to bulk up even further to face Makhachev and add another belt to his collection.
“Ideally, I would love to see Islam getting the title and the UFC letting me go up to 170 and getting the third belt,” Topuria said.
Whether he ever fights Makhachev or not, Topuria has placed himself at the forefront of the pound-for-pound debate and is arguably the promotion’s biggest star given his global popularity. With his past three wins, he’s also made the case for having authored the most impressive run in MMA history.
“I think so,” Topuria said. “Three legends. Alex Volkanovski, he was dominating the whole division. Max Holloway, another legend of the sport. And now Charles Oliveira. I think that it’s the greatest run.”