UFC pound-for-pound king Ilia Topuria has a willing adversary for a possible move to the welterweight division.
Ilia Topuria is the talk of MMA after winning a second UFC title by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 last Saturday in Las Vegas. Topuria stays undefeated in his profession and has surged into one in every of the promotion’s biggest stars.
Topuria backed up his immense pre-fight confidence by winning in the precise fashion he predicted at UFC 317. He’s now one in every of a handful of UFC legends to win belts in multiple divisions, joining the ranks of Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, and Georges St-Pierre.
Despite being days faraway from his UFC 317 win, Topuria wants the prospect to make more history in his fighting future.
Belal Muhammad ‘welcomes’ Ilia Topuria’s welterweight ambitions as he pursues third UFC title
Topuria raised eyebrows when he was recently asked a few potential pursuit of a 3rd UFC title at 170 lbs. Topuria has repeatedly teased fighting at welterweight sooner or later in his profession, but Topuria made a promise to the UFC matchmakers at UFC 317 that he wouldn’t immediately move to a different division.
But that hasn’t stopped one in every of the welterweight division’s biggest names from expressing willingness to fight Topuria when the time is correct.
During a recent segment on his YouTube channel, Belal Muhammad reacted to Topuria potentially moving up one other division for the prospect to develop into a three-division champion.
“Is Topuria underrated or overrated? I feel he’s rated right,” Muhammad began.
“Can Topuria compete at 170? He showed that his power translated, went up and he still had the facility in his hands. I do know Oliveira isn’t the right testing tool at 155, seeing as he’s gotten dropped by Gaethje, Chandler, Poirier, he’s gotten hurt lots, but he’s all the time got here back. I really need to see him go against one other guy at 155 who has shown that they’ve a chin, that they’ve never been dropped.
“At 170, I feel the scale definitely would matter. At 155 and 170, it’s an enormous difference, especially for a man that’s coming from 145. But man, I’d welcome him to return to 170, come up! Let’s do it!”
Muhammad hasn’t fought since losing the UFC welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Muhammad has called for a showdown with Kamaru Usman in recent weeks for a possible No. 1 contender fight.
The UFC has never had a three-division champion, male or female, within the promotion’s illustrious profession. If Topuria goals to separate himself within the UFC GOAT conversation, a move to welterweight could come sooner slightly than later.
Ilia Topuria focused on settling years-long feud with star lightweight contender
Within the meantime, Topuria is targeted on his first lightweight title defense, which could come against a heated rival. Topuria and Paddy Pimblett had a heated faceoff after UFC 317 after years of brewing bad blood between the 2 stars.
Pimblett has been linked to a clash with Justin Gaethje at UFC 319, although he recently dismissed the rumors expressed by UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. Pimblett hasn’t fought since ending Michael Chandler at UFC 314 earlier this yr.
Topuria has loads of options for his next fight after achieving UFC superstardom at UFC 317. If he makes the move to 170 lbs, don’t be surprised if Muhammad is his first opponent.