Ilia Topuria continues to be not serious about facing the present primary contender for his title.
After winning the lightweight title earlier this 12 months, Topuria claimed that he’d moderately vacate the belt than face Arman Tsarukyan.
‘El Matador’ cited the primary contender’s late notice withdrawal from his planned title fight in January as the rationale why he wants nothing to do with the challenger.
Tsarukyan and Topuria recently exchanged comments following the Armenian’s long-awaited return to competition where he produced a dominant victory over Dan Hooker on November 22.
Despite many calling for this fight to occur within the near future, there are only two opponents whom the undefeated champion wants to fulfill contained in the Octagon.
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Who should get the subsequent lightweight title shot?
Ilia Topuria desires to fight Paddy Pimblett or Islam Makhachev in his next bout
Bloody Elbow users agreed with the UFC’s pound-for-pound rating when putting Islam Makhachev above Ilia Topuria in the highest spot following UFC 322.
The previous lightweight champion successfully moved up a weight class and have become the welterweight champion by beating Jack Della Maddalena on November 15.
In a recent interview with Alvaro Colmenero, Topuria made it clear that if it was as much as him who his next opponent can be, it will be the brand new champion at 170 kilos.
Who should Islam Makhachev fight next?
Nevertheless, there’s one other fight that he’s serious about taking at lightweight if the UFC doesn’t give him the chance to try to grow to be a three-weight champion.
Paddy Pimblett recently continued to climb the rankings despite not fighting since April, with fans questioning whether this implies he’s being positioned for the subsequent title shot at 155 kilos.
Together with Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, who has claimed he’ll retire if he isn’t next for Topuria, was also snubbed by the champion.
“I even have Paddy on my mind,” Topuria stated. “I’d prefer to fight Paddy [Pimblett] in the event that they don’t let me move as much as welterweight to fight Islam [Makhachev], since the fight I’d really like is against Islam within the third weight class.”
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Ilia Topuria isn’t prone to return in January following his recent update
Given his status as considered one of the largest stars on the roster, it seemed likely that Ilia Topuria’s next fight could happen in January to kick off the UFC’s latest broadcast take care of Paramount+.
Nevertheless, it was recently reported by Ariel Helwani that Amanda Nunes’ return to face Kayla Harrison is the present title fight that’s being targeted for that event.
In the identical interview with Alvaro Colmenero, Topuria said that he has “nothing on the horizon” in the intervening time and hasn’t had any approach from the UFC.
No matter who ‘El Matador’ faces next, it’s sure to be an enormous matchup, but fans can have to attend a bit of longer to search out out who his opponent will likely be.