Ilia Topuria wants Islam Makhachev next however, if the UFC won’t give him the welterweight champion right away, “El Matador” already knows who he wants to deal with.
Topuria doesn’t have his first lightweight title defence booked yet. Makhachev just climbed to welterweight and took the belt off Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322, and the Georgian-Spanish star wants to follow him there. Still, the lightweight division has its own problems for him, including a surging Arman Tsarukyan fresh off a dominant finish against Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar.
However, when it comes to personal preference, Topuria isn’t shy. If it’s not Makhachev, he wants Paddy Pimblett.
“I have Paddy on my mind,” Topuria told Álvaro Colmenero. “I’d like to fight Paddy if they don’t let me move up to welterweight to fight Islam. Because the fight I would really like is against Islam in the third weight class. But let’s see. Maybe I’ll have one more fight, then in summer [maybe] there’s a date when they’ll let me move up to welterweight, and I’ll fight for the third belt.”
Topuria’s run has been one of the craziest streaks in UFC history. He knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to win the featherweight title at UFC 298, then became the first fighter ever to stop Max Holloway with strikes at UFC 308. After vacating the belt in pursuit of Makhachev, he knocked out Charles Oliveira in June and grabbed the lightweight title.
If the UFC isn’t ready to let him move up, Topuria has another idea, one that still puts him across from Makhachev.
“Maybe they’ll create a new belt called the pound-for-pound title at a catchweight,” Topuria said. “So I’ll fight for that pound-for-pound belt. Let’s see. There’s plenty of options. Let’s see what the future holds.”
Arman Tsarukyan isn’t buying Topuria’s talk about Paddy Pimblett. To him, it sounds like the champion is dodging the real No. 1 contender.
Tsarukyan’s submission win over Hooker at UFC Qatar cemented his claim, and he’s been vocal about Topuria steering away from him. When he heard Topuria name Pimblett over him, he went straight to work on X.
“Could it be any more obvious that el pato is doing everything in his power to avoid fighting me?”
Tsarukyan has gone 10-1 in his last 11 fights, beating names like Hooker, Charles Oliveira, and Beneil Dariush. His lone loss in that stretch came against Mateusz Gamrot in 2022. Meanwhile, Topuria remains undefeated and has knocked out Volkanovski, Holloway, and Oliveira across two divisions.
For now, the lightweight title picture is still unsettled. Even Ariel Helwani reported that the UFC’s upcoming debut event on Paramount+ might not include Topuria at all.
Until the UFC makes a final call, one thing is clear: Ilia Topuria has options, rivals, and a target and everyone at lightweight is paying attention.
