Outside Source
When he was the featherweight champ, Topuria was eyeing a lightweight title shot against Makhachev. However, Makhachev vacated the belt and moved up to welterweight. Topuria won the vacant lightweight title by knocking out former champ Charles Oliveira this past June. Meanwhile, Makhachev dominantly dethroned Jack Della Maddalena earlier this month to win the welterweight title.
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A New UFC Belt?
Topuria refuses to give up on the Makhachev matchup, even teasing a move to welterweight. “El Matador” is ideally looking to defend his lightweight title against Paddy Pimblett before potentially moving up to welterweight. However, it is widely believed that Topuria will have a significant size disadvantage at 170 pounds. Topuria proposes that if the UFC doesn’t want him to move to welterweight, they should make a unique title fight between him and Makhachev at a catchweight, for the UFC pound-for-pound championship.
“I have Paddy on my mind,” Topuria told Alvaro Colmenreo. “I would like to fight Paddy… Maybe I’ll have one more fight, and then in the summer there’s a date when [the UFC] can let me move up to welterweight and I’ll fight for the third belt. Or maybe they’ll create a new belt called the ‘pound-for-pound title,’ at a catchweight, so I’ll fight for the pound-for-pound title.”
😳 Ilia Topuria wants to fight Islam Makhachev for a “pound-for-pound” title at a catchweight
“Maybe I’ll have one more fight, and then in the summer there’s a date when [the UFC] can let me move up to welterweight.
Or maybe they’ll create a new belt called the… pic.twitter.com/oiLb3yLKtn
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) November 24, 2025
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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