Is Ilia Topuria Making a Mistake by Waiting for a Title Shot?
When Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes entered the octagon at UFC 314, Ilia Topuria’s UFC Featherweight Championship was officially vacated. Topuria decided to vacate his championship strap, with the hopes of capturing another. Champions moving up in weight classes to challenge themselves is nothing new. The man Topuria beat to claim the featherweight title, Alexander Volkanovski moved up to the lightweight division with aspirations of becoming a double champion in 2023. Jon Jones vacated his UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship in 2020 so he could make the move to heavyweight. In all cases of a UFC Champion moving up or down in a division, they have been granted an immediate title shot. However, Ilia Topuria may not enjoy the same privileges as champions in the past.
On February 19th, Ilia Topuria announced his plans to vacate the UFC Featherweight Championship and move up to the Lightweight division. Since then, Topuria has made it clear that a move up to lightweight does not include him fighting for anything other than a UFC Championship. At first, it seemed that Ilia Topuria and UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev were destined for a massive money fight. Rumors began to circulate that the fight would main event UFC 317 during International Fight Week. However, after Makhachev’s team couldn’t agree on a deal to get the fight signed, the chances of seeing this fight any time soon have been greatly diminished.
Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev have engaged in a verbal back and forth since the fight talks fell through. Makhachev believes that Topuria is undeserving of a title shot until he beats a top contender in the division. On the other hand, Topuria has made this very clear: He will not be fighting unless it is for the championship. It seems that Makhachevs unwillingness to grant Topuria a title shot has gotten under his skin. Topuria has escalated the feud between him and the Dagestani, after claims that Makhachev’s coach and UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, is the one stopping the fight from happening.
Waiting around for a title shot is rarely a good thing. Ilia Topuria is 28 years old and is already one of the best fighters in the UFC. Regardless of whether Makhachev’s claims of Topuria being undeserving of a title shot are factual or not, these are Topuria’s prime years. It’s understandable why the Spaniard doesn’t want to compete in a championship eliminator fight, but sitting on the sidelines while new stars within the Lightweight division are on the rise is not recommended. Despite the controversy surrounding the super fight between Topuria and Makhachev, Topuria is still confident he will be challenging for the championship.
