After months of expressing interest in moving to welterweight, Islam Makhachev finally got his shot when his teammate, Belal Muhammad, was unseated as champion by Jack Della Maddalena. Makhachev announced his move shortly afterwards, but Ilia Topuria wasn’t too pleased with the decision, he had his sights set on battling Makhachev.
The former featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, recently made headlines for his decision to move up to lightweight in hopes of a super fight with Makhachev. Unfortunately for him, those plans were cut short, as the former lightweight champion chose to move up a division. Topuria did not take this well.
Since Makhachev’s announcement, the two have traded heated words, with Makhachev calling Topuria a “nobody,” while Topuria accused him of being a “hypocrite.”
“He’s the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen in my life,” Topuria said. “He told me he wouldn’t give me a chance because I was the smaller guy, and now he’s the small one seeking the same opportunity I wanted. So, it’s like he criticized a decision—an action of mine, when he’s now doing the exact same thing. I’ve never seen such hypocrisy, but that’s how he’s being advised, I guess.”
Makhachev caught wind of the comments and fired back with more insults, calling Topuria a “big mouth” in a post on X.
“The difference between me and you is that I cleaned out the top of my division and moved to the next, but you ran away from two contenders with consecutive 5–9 wins in the featherweight division,” Makhachev wrote. “You are nobody in the lightweight division, just a big mouth from Spain with a nice haircut. Go get one W, and we can talk, boy.”
Unsurprisingly, “El Matador” returned fire, calling Makhachev a “coward” for choosing not to fight him.
“The difference between you and me is that I am a man, and you are a coward. I speak and fight. You talk and hide. Run away far, leaving no trace.”
It is uncertain if Makhachev vs. Topuria will ever come to fruition. However, if both men hold UFC gold by the end of the year, there could be a possible super fight.
