Ilia Topuria’s first choice for his next fight is Islam Makhachev, but if that can’t happen, “El Matador” wants to settle an old score.
The lightweight champion currently does not have his first title defense on the books with hopes of facing Makhachev, who recently became the welterweight champion after defeating Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 322.
Topuria has plenty of options, including top contender Arman Tsarukyan following his dominant stoppage win over Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar. But if the rising star had his choice, Topuria is choosing Paddy Pimblett if Makhachev is off the table.
“I have Paddy on my mind,” Topuria told Álvaro Colmenero. “I’d like to fight Paddy if they don’t let me move up to welterweight to fight Islam. Because the fight I would really like is against Islam in the third weight class. But let’s see. Maybe I’ll have one more fight, then in summer [maybe] there’s a date when they’ll let me move up to welterweight, and I’ll fight for the third belt.”
Topuria has had an incredible run in the UFC, but his past three-fight stint has been one of the great stretches in the history of the sport. Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to win the featherweight title at UFC 298 in February 2024, and then became the first to ever stop Max Holloway via strikes eight months later at UFC 308 in what would be his lone 145-pound title defense.
After vacating the title in hopes for a fight with Makhachev, Topuria went on to knock out Charles Oliveira in June to become the lightweight champion.
If the UFC doesn’t want Topuria to make a full move to welterweight, he has a different suggestion where a fight with Makhachev can still happen, but for a new championship.
“Maybe they’ll create a new belt called the pound-for-pound title at a catchweight,” Topuria said. “So I’ll fight for that pound-for-pound belt. Let’s see. There’s plenty of options. Let’s see what the future holds.”
Update: Tsarukyan responded to Topuria’s comments on X.
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