Ilia Topuria is the biggest star in MMA right now after violently knocking out Charles Oliveira in the first round at UFC 317 and capturing a title in a second weight class.
Topuria entered the UFC on 9 days’ notice when he faced fellow featherweight contender Youssef Zalal, winning the fight via unanimous decision.
Since his debut, the Spaniard has been on a streak of vicious knockouts and quickly made himself stand out as one of the brightest talents in the UFC.
With Topuria’s scary knockout power combined with his speed and footwork, he has been a puzzle no one in the UFC can figure out yet.
Ilia Topuria claims that Islam Makhachev is ducking him
When Topuria announced that he was moving up to lightweight, MMA fans eagerly awaited the announcement that he would face Islam Makhachev for the title.
This would not be the case, however, as Islam announced that he would be vacating his title in a pursuit of winning welterweight gold.
After Topuria achieved the legendary status of winning titles in two different weight divisions, he made his feelings about Islam moving up very clear.
Topuria has hinted that he is willing to move up to welterweight to make the fight with Islam happen. Topuria has been welcomed to the division by former champion Belal Muhammad.
Topuria has many options after winning lightweight gold
After Topuria brutally finished Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, the champ faced off with rising lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett.
The fight against Pimblett has been brewing since 2022 when the beef between the two first started, and it is a fight which is guaranteed to sell lots of tickets.
Arman Tsarukyan is also waiting for his chance to have a crack at the lightweight king, with the 28-year-old claiming that Topuria is scared of the top contender.
Tsarukyan was famously meant to fight for the lightweight title against Makhachev but pulled out the day before due to injury. He weighed in at UFC 317 as the backup fighter for the title fight, which puts him in a good position to be next to fight Topuria.