Is Ilia Topuria Moving Up To Lightweight?
UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has just pulled off one of the all-time great calendar years in UFC history. “El Matador” ended Alexander Volkanovski’s long championship reign at UFC 298 back in February, when he knocked the Australian out to claim the featherweight title.
Not satisfied with the destruction of one UFC legend, Topuria successfully defended his belt when he became the first fighter to knock out former champion Max Holloway at UFC 308 in October.
There had been speculation about who might be next in line to challenge Topuria for the featherweight title, but the Georgian surprised everyone by announcing his plans to move up to 155 lbs during a recent El Partidazo de COPE interview.
“I’d like to move up to the next weight class” Topuria told the Spanish radio outlet, “and since Islam (Makhachev) is the champion fighting in January (against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311), and he won’t be ready for April or May, I’d like to fight against the No. 1 contender right now, who’s Charles Oliveira.”
Ilia Topuria To Vacate?
Topuria’s coach, Jorge Climent, has hinted that the planned switch to lightweight is down to Topuria’s struggles to make the 145 lb limit.
“Yeah, the real thing, I think, is he hates to cut weight,” Climent told Submission Radio. “He does it a lot of times, and it’s very hard every time we do it. He doesn’t want to do this anymore, and that’s why he wants to go up to the next weight class, you know, because he thinks his normal weight is in that weight class.”
This caused fans to speculate that Topuria may vacate the featherweight belt, but the champion quickly shut down that suggestion, when he tweeted:
“I will not leave the title vacant. The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven’t had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere. I have conquered my division and I wil do the same in the next one”.
I will not leave the title vacant. The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven't had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere. I have conquered my division and I will do…
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) December 12, 2024
Former Middleweight Champion Weighs In
Robert Whittaker, who made the switch from welterweight to middleweight back in 2015 before going on to become champion at 185 lbs, has given his thoughts on the situation.
“I saw something of him saying ‘that was my last fight at featherweight’, but I don’t know” said Whittaker this week during an appearance on the MMArcade Podcast. “If the weight cut’s real, like if he’s struggling with the weight cut, he can go up.
“He beat Volk and Holloway dude, like…I’m happy with him going up! Those two dudes just ran the division…like clean ran the division, so I’d like to see him go up and see what that looks like. See how his ‘box grappling’ works against those bigger dudes, see how big he gets in those fights. Because he’s obviously a chiselled guy. I’m curious…I’m very curious”.
Can Ilia Topuria Topple Makhachev?
While Topuria has stated that he would like to face Charles Oliveira at lightweight, his long-term aim would surely be to become a two-weight world champion.
“Too many unknowns”, replied “The Reaper” when asked to give his prediction on how a fight between Topuria and Makhachev might look. “I don’t know what he looks like as a lightweight. Hypothetically, if Makhachev went down (to 145 lbs) to fight Topuria, Topuria beats him I think. I can’t do it the other way around, because at lightweight (Islam’s) so strong and powerful and his boxing and kickboxing’s like really top notch. It’s come a long way since we first saw him land”.
Early Retirement for Ilia Topuria?
Topuria has also recently spoken about his plans to retire by the age of thirty, something that “Bobby Knuckles” believes may be too difficult for the current featherweight champion to follow through on.
“If he said that and he executes it, then hats off to him”said Whittaker. “I think it takes a strong man to set a gameplan like that, to set a plan out in motion and then to execute it, especially with the allure of money being waved in your face constantly, you know and what could be.
“Like Khabib (Nurmagomedov). All the respect in the world to him, because he said it was gonna be his last fight and he said ‘that’s it’, he’s done now”.
