The former UFC featherweight champion is set on sticking to his guns after vacating his title to move up a weight class.
Ilia Topuria is prepared to wait for his lightweight title shot rather than facing a top contender even if it means fighting later than he originally wanted to.
The division is currently at a stand still with fans not knowing what will be next for Islam Makhachev with Topuria expecting him to go up to welterweight.
There are other big fights for the division’s new arrival but ‘La Leyenda’ isn’t interested in anything that doesn’t involve the gold even if he hopes to share the Octagon with a rival of his in the near future.
Topuria has one eye on Paddy Pimblett following his big win at UFC 314 but another lightweight contender doesn’t see the undefeated star making a seamless transition up to 155-pounds if he goes right in against the current champion.
Mateusz Gamrot says that Ilia Topuria is too small to be a serious threat to Islam Makhachev
Though the chances of seeing it take place look relatively unlikely right now due to both sides having very different stances on the fight, Ilia Topuria facing Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title is one of the biggest matchups possible right now.
The challenger being happy to wait isn’t going to change the fact that the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov believe that Topuria needs a win over a big name before he fights the champion.
Mateusz Gamrot predicts that even if everything does fall into place for ‘La Leyenda’ in the coming months, his undefeated run will come to an end against the pound-for-pound number one.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, Gamrot gave his thoughts on the matchup and how he sees this huge clash playing out if it does materialize.
Surprisingly, the #7-ranked contender believes that Topuria is deserving of a lightweight title shot after he vacated his belt to move up to 155-pounds.
Whilst the 28-year-old might be worthy of taking on the champion, Gamrot doesn’t believe that the fight would end up being competitive for the simple fact that Topuria is too small to challenge Makhachev.
We have seen him compete at lightweight inside the Octagon once before but it remains to be seen whether size will play a factor when he’s facing the best that the division has to offer.
“For me, interesting fight but I don’t know. Topuria is a small guy. Islam is a really big guy and I don’t think that Topuria has a chance against him, you know. If you want to fight with Islam, you have to be a big guy, similar like him, because he’s good everywhere but if your body is smaller than his, you don’t have a chance for sure.”
Alexander Volkanovski gave Islam Makhachev a very tough fight at UFC 284 despite the size difference
In his first defense of the lightweight title at UFC 284, Islam Makhachev won a hard fought decision over Alexander Volkanovski in a classic fight.
‘The Great’ certainly gave the defending champion a run for his money after moving up from featherweight, standing at 5’6” compared to Makhachev at 5’10” according to UFC Stats.
MMA maths doesn’t always work and Volkanovski is known for being excellent at utilizing his long arms and distance control to make up for his height but Ilia Topuria is an inch taller than his former opponent.
We don’t know how Topuria will adjust to the lightweight division but he seems to be confident that this weight class will bring the best out of him now that he doesn’t have to put his body through a difficult weight cut.