UFC pound-for-pound king Ilia Topuria has a willing adversary for a potential move to the welterweight division.
Ilia Topuria is the talk of MMA after winning a second UFC title by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 last Saturday in Las Vegas. Topuria remains undefeated in his career and has surged into one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
Topuria backed up his immense pre-fight confidence by winning in the exact fashion he predicted at UFC 317. He’s now one of a handful of UFC legends to win belts in multiple divisions, joining the ranks of Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, and Georges St-Pierre.
Despite being days removed from his UFC 317 win, Topuria wants the chance to make more history in his fighting future.
Belal Muhammad ‘welcomes’ Ilia Topuria’s welterweight ambitions as he pursues third UFC title
Topuria raised eyebrows when he was recently asked about a potential pursuit of a third UFC title at 170 lbs. Topuria has repeatedly teased fighting at welterweight at some point in his career, but Topuria made a promise to the UFC matchmakers at UFC 317 that he wouldn’t immediately move to another division.
But that hasn’t stopped one of the welterweight division’s biggest names from expressing willingness to fight Topuria when the time is right.
During a recent segment on his YouTube channel, Belal Muhammad reacted to Topuria potentially moving up another division for the chance to become a three-division champion.
“Is Topuria underrated or overrated? I think he’s rated right,” Muhammad began.
“Can Topuria compete at 170? He showed that his power translated, went up and he still had the power in his hands. I know Oliveira is not the perfect testing tool at 155, seeing as he’s gotten dropped by Gaethje, Chandler, Poirier, he’s gotten hurt a lot, but he’s always came back. I really want to see him go against another guy at 155 who has shown that they have a chin, that they’ve never been dropped.
“At 170, I think the size definitely would matter. At 155 and 170, it’s a big difference, especially for a guy that’s coming from 145. But man, I’d welcome him to come to 170, come up! Let’s do it!”
Muhammad hasn’t fought since losing the UFC welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Muhammad has called for a showdown with Kamaru Usman in recent weeks for a potential No. 1 contender fight.
The UFC has never had a three-division champion, male or female, in the promotion’s illustrious career. If Topuria aims to separate himself in the UFC GOAT conversation, a move to welterweight could come sooner rather than later.
Ilia Topuria focused on settling years-long feud with star lightweight contender
In the meantime, Topuria is focused on his first lightweight title defense, which could come against a heated rival. Topuria and Paddy Pimblett had a heated faceoff after UFC 317 after years of brewing bad blood between the two stars.
Pimblett has been linked to a clash with Justin Gaethje at UFC 319, although he recently dismissed the rumors expressed by UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. Pimblett hasn’t fought since finishing Michael Chandler at UFC 314 earlier this year.
Topuria has plenty of options for his next fight after achieving UFC superstardom at UFC 317. If he makes the move to 170 lbs, don’t be surprised if Muhammad is his first opponent.