There’s still hope for Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev.
UFC fans have missed out on some massive fights this year, with a heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall being one of them.
Despite guarantees from UFC CEO Dana White, the super-fight never happened, and the promotion ultimately moved on, as they did with Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev at lightweight.
In pursuit of becoming a two-division champion, Makhachev relinquished his lightweight title shortly after friend Belal Muhammad lost the welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
Had Muhammad retained, the super-fight between Makhachev and newly-crowned lightweight champ Topuria likely would’ve gone down at UFC 317 in June.
While both stars could go their separate ways and possibly never fight each other, one former lightweight contender is calling on the UFC to not repeat history.
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Al Iaquinta says Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev must happen unlike Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Booked five times unsuccessfully, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson is largely considered as the greatest UFC fight to never happen.
On their fifth and final try, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson each had a 12-fight streak (in UFC) heading into their lightweight title fight at UFC 249 before Nurmagomedov withdrew due to travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topuria and Makhachev currently have a combined 31-fight win streak and hold the top two spots in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Retired UFC fighter and real estate agent Al Iaquinta is sold that this is the fight the UFC needs to make, not wanting to see another Khabib vs. Tony.
“They gotta make that fight with Islam, right?” Iaquinta told Bloody Elbow.
“That’s the modern day Tony Ferguson versus Khabib,” Iaquinta said of Topuria vs. Makhachev.
“It’s like you can never imagine what’s gonna happen. What would happen if those two fought?
You can’t picture it even, like, what happens if Islam and Ilia get in there together? What the heck’s gonna happen? There’s so many different X factors that each of them have.
“Islam’s got the wrestling, but they’re saying Ilia’s got the wrestling too. He doesn’t really use it much, but when you’re seeing him training, it looks like he’s got it. Ilia’s stand-up is crazy. He’s got that knockout power.
“He’s knocking everybody out… The guys that don’t get knocked out, he’s knocking out,” the former top-five contender said of Topuria.
“That’s a crazy fight. They got to make that. I have to see that fight,” Iaquinta added.
Al Iaquinta says Ilia Topuria is ‘Conor McGregor 2.0’
There are several similarities between Topuria and the biggest superstar the sport’s ever seen in Conor McGregor.
Like McGregor, Topuria went a perfect 7-0 in the featherweight division with two title wins before he captured the lightweight title with a knockout.
However, unlike McGregor, Topuria defended his featherweight title against Max Holloway before he went up to 155 lbs and knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
Al Iaquinta says he’s a fan of Topuria, even if he took a few pages from the McGregor playbook.
“He’s the total package,” Iaquinta said of Topuria.
“I think he speaks well. He’s an inspiration to the younger generation. He’s a positive role model and I think he’s kind of got his head straight to where he’s like a family guy.
“I see him having a long reign, a positive reign and yeah, I think he’s the next evolution.
“I think he’s like Conor 2.0,” Iaquinta added.
“He took Conor’s blueprint and then just like leveled it up a notch…
“But Conor was one of a kind—but [Topuria] definitely is, he’s doing it in his own way. He’s doing it his own way, but he’s taking a lot from the Conor book,” Iaquinta said of the lightweight champion.