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Brett Okamoto
Former UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is focused on his upcoming move to welterweight, but he hasn’t forgotten about Ilia Topuria.
Makhachev (27-1) will challenge Jack Della Maddalena (18-2) for the welterweight championship at UFC 322 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden. In anticipation of the move, Makhachev vacated his 155-pound lightweight belt in May. Topuria (17-0), the UFC’s former featherweight champion, became Makhachev’s successor in June, when he knocked out Charles Oliveira for the title.
Topuria and Makhachev are widely considered the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and Topuria has said he will move up in weight again to face Makhachev at the 170-pound limit if he wins — a scenario Makhachev says he would welcome, particularly at the UFC’s historic event at the White House next summer.
“I saw the [Oliveira] fight; he’s good,” Makhachev told ESPN. “I have a good fight now and I know [Topuria] is going to fight soon and we’ll see what’s gonna happen. He wants to fight at the White House, and I also want to be there. I know the UFC wants to do some big fight in the White House. Which fight is going to be bigger than this?”
The UFC has not announced any fights for the much-anticipated card, which President Donald Trump has said will take place on June 14. Topuria is unbooked as of now, but he is expected to defend his lightweight belt at least one more time before any potential move up in class.
Makhachev defended his title four times before dropping it for a move to welterweight. He said the weight cut to lightweight depleted him so much, he has yet to compete to his full ability in the UFC.
“No one who cuts like [22 pounds], they never recover 100%, you know?” Makhachev said. “I was still feeling [the effects] for the fight, maybe 70% or 60%, because it’s so hard to recover 30 hours [after cutting weight].”