Ilia Topuria isn’t short of options following his KO win against Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
The undefeated Topuria has a new target on his back following his second title win on Saturday. After KO’ing Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at featherweight, UFC 317 saw Topuria stop another legend in Oliveira with punches in a matter of minutes.
After the fact, Topuria had three potential opponents to choose from cageside: Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett, who faced off with Topuria in the Octagon, much to the dislike of Dana White.
While any of these three fights sound interesting for Topuria, UFC commentator Joe Rogan proposes the UFC go back to ‘square one’ in their matchmaking.
Joe Rogan says Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev is the fight to make
When it was still a possibility, Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev was one of the biggest fights the UFC could’ve made in 2025.
Earlier this year, Topuria relinquished the featherweight title and had his sights on facing Makhachev, before the lightweight champion ultimately decided on a move to welterweight.
Makhachev will look to become a two-division champion himself in a fight with the newly-crowned Jack Della Maddalena.
Weighing in on who should fight Topuria next, Rogan thinks the UFC should reverse course and bring Makhachev back to the lightweight division.
“I think Islam is the fight,” Rogan said on the UFC 317 broadcast.
“Yeah, it is,” Daniel Cormier responded.
“If I’m the matchmaker, I’m calling Islam,” Rogan continued.
“I’m like, look, Jack Della [Maddalena], that’s a lot of fun…
“That’s fun and everything, but come on.
“Maybe when they call him up and they say, is there a number? Is there a number we can do?” Rogan added.
Ilia Topuria changes tune on Paddy Pimblett fight after UFC 317
Prior to his second title win against Oliveira, Topuria initially ruled out two fights with top contenders after UFC 317.
Topuria said #1 contender Arman Tsarukyan and his #8-ranked rival Paddy Pimblett both needed wins if they wanted a title fight with him.
However, after snubbing Tsarukyan in his post-fight interview, Topuria entertained a face-off with Pimblett, garnering much fan interest in the potential matchup.
“That’s the fight I want [the most],” Topuria said of Pimblett at the UFC 317 post-fight press conference.
“I’m really going to enjoy kicking his ass,” Topuria added.
“I was very excited tonight.
“Someone from my team told me that Dana was a little angry about that [face-off].
“But he wasn’t there [so] maybe that needs to happen,” Topuria said of facing off with Pimblett.
Pimblett is coming off a dominant TKO win over former Bellator champion Michael Chandler in the co-main event of UFC 314 in April.