Ilia Topuria isn’t short on options for big fights following his win at UFC 317.
Despite his intense face-off with Paddy Pimblett, Topuria recently stated that this might not be his next fight with ‘The Baddy’ needing one more win.
While there are other contenders in the mix like Arman Tsarukyan, who is keen to get his hands on Topuria, ‘El Matador’ also has another goal in mind.
It’s not likely to happen for him this year but the undefeated champion has spoken a lot about wanting to challenge himself at welterweight in the future.
This could lead to a highly anticipated clash with Islam Makhachev, who is still very much on Topuria’s radar after both men recently vacated their titles to move up weight classes.
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Ilia Topuria claims he’d fight Islam Makhachev and Paddy Pimblett on the same night in an ideal scenario
At a recent press conference in Spain, Ilia Topuria spoke about the potential opponents that he could face now that he’s the lightweight champion.
While the likes of Arman Tsarukyan and Justin Gaethje are confident that they deserve the next lightweight title shots, there are two bigger fights out there for ‘El Matador’.
Facing either Paddy Pimblett or Islam Makhachev in the near future would lead to one of the biggest UFC title fights in recent years following the feud that Topuria has developed with both men.
At the press conference, the undefeated champ was asked about the prospect of looking to win a third belt at welterweight and potentially facing Makhachev.
In Topuria’s response, posted by Alvaro Colmenero on YouTube, he outlined his ideal scenario which includes bringing the Octagon to Spain for the first time and fighting his two greatest rivals on the same night.
“Absolutely. For me, yes. If it were up to me, next Saturday we’d have UFC Spain against Makhachev in the first round and against Paddy in the second.”
Ilia Topuria fires back at Arman Tsarukyan by claiming that he’s the ‘easiest of them all’
While the face-off between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett certainly got people talking, there were some that were disappointed to see Arman Tsarukyan get skipped over.
The #1 contender successfully weighed in as the backup fighter for UFC 317 having previously missed out on a title shot when he withdrew from UFC 311 due to injury.
Topuria pushed back against the idea that Tsarukyan is the toughest test in the lightweight division by making reference to the cancelled title fight in January.
“Tsarukyan is the easiest of them all,” Topuria said at the press conference. “He’s much easier than Paddy, much easier. I don’t even know what to call him. Imagine having the opportunity to fight for the world title, and when the day comes, you pull out because your back hurts. I can’t conceive it, I can’t even understand it. I would’ve fought without an arm. I don’t care… Clearly, mentally you aren’t where you need to be.”
