Ilia Topuria continues to wait around, wondering who his next opponent will be after moving up to lightweight.
After knocking out Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway in back-to-back fights, picking up the two biggest scalps in his division, Ilia Topuria announced he was vacating the featherweight title.
Since then, Topuria has continued to tease a potential fight against the current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, despite Makhachev seemingly being more interested in a fight against Justin Gaethje.
Despite the anticipation surrounding Ilia Topuria‘s first fight at 155lbs, he has been accused of lying about his weight by lightweight contender Michael Chandler.
Topuria accuses Oliveira and Makhachev of ducking him
However, Chandler isn’t the only one throwing out accusations, as whilst he has been sat on the sidelines, the Spaniard has accused both Makhachev and former champion Charles Oliveira of ducking him.
With the Russian champion seemingly not interested in fighting Topuria yet, the 28-year-old briefly set his sights on ‘Do Bronx’, and the two began trading barbs online.
Despite their brief encounters, Oliveira made it clear that he isn’t interested in fighting Topuria and has instead implored the UFC to make the rematch between him and Makhachev.
“All my training is focused on Islam or Charles because I don’t see any other opponents,” Topuria told the media during a press conference in Spain this Thursday.
“Neither of them seems to dare (to fight me). These are the symptoms of fear, we all know that, but it’s normal, I’d be scared too,” the former featherweight champion continued.
Ilia Topuria reveals new nickname ahead of next stage in his UFC career
Ahead of his permanent move to lightweight, Topuria revealed that he was going into it with ‘a new identity’ and would be changing his ‘El Matador’ nickname.
During an event earlier this week, which saw a street name in Toledo, Spain named ‘Paseo Ilia Topuria’, the 28-year-old revealed his new nickname.
Topuria will now go by ‘La Leyenda’, which translates to ‘The Legend’, as he looks to continue his rise in the sport in which he has already become such a huge star.
‘La Leyenda’ is hopeful that his next fight and opponent will be announced soon; however, despite years of calls for the promotion to hold an event in Spain, that certainly won’t be happening next, with Topuria seemingly done with pursuing that.