Things are heating up between Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev after the former posted a story on the photo-sharing platform Instagram mocking the current UFC Lightweight Champion.
The Spaniard’s story comes not long after Makhachev mocked Topuria for wanting to step up a weight class and fight him for the lightweight gold and moreover, to even fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. Makhachev laughed off the possibility by warning Topuria that he would meet the same fate Volkanovski did in his attempt to hold the dual title.
“Another short guy is talking. Another short guy wants to be smashed” Makhachev said.
Earlier this month, Topuria had said he would like to face Islam Makhachev during a press conference in Spain.
Ilia Topuria mocks Islam Makhachev’s knockout loss against Adriano Martins
On his Instagram story, Topuria posted the video of Makhachev’s KO loss against Adriano Martins, which marks the sole loss of the Dagestani fighter’s MMA career.
He suffered a brutal KO loss at the hands of the Brazilian in October 2015. Since then, Makhachev has accumulated 13 straight wins to his name and currently reigns as the UFC lightweight champion with two successful title defences to his name.
The call-out from Topuria does sound intriguing for many reasons. Topuria is a powerful striker and with a BJJ black belt to his name. While we still haven’t seen much from Topuria on the ground, it calls for an exciting nonetheless merely because of Topuria’s all-around-skill set and his vicious KO power.
However, it’s safe to say with Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan and Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway right around the corner, now might not be the best time for the UFC to book that fight.
Be that as it may, UFC must be planning something massive for Ilia Topuria, who has become an overnight sensation since his brutal KO win over Alexander Volkanovski this month at UFC 298. More recently, he was seen being welcomed by arguably the biggest soccer team on the planet, Real Madrid. With over 85000+ fans watching the Spaniard hold the UFC title, if Topuria can maintain his winning streak, the sky is the limit for the UFC featherweight champion.
