Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev’s recent war of words has the MMA world talking.
The former featherweight champion and the soon-to-be former lightweight champion are both moving up to challenge for world titles in higher divisions. Topuria faces Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 317 next month, and Makhachev, who vacated the 155-pound belt, faces new welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena later this year.
Topuria made the move up to lightweight after becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway in his lone featherweight title defense at UFC 308 in October. It appeared he would be on a collision course with Makhachev, although the idea of the longtime lightweight champ moving up to welterweight had been floating around for some time. Makhachev always seemed to welcome the challenge, but publicly stated he would like to see Topuria get a win over a high-level lightweight first before getting his shot.
Now that Makhachev is making the move up to welterweight, Topuria called him a “hypocrite” for—in Topuria’s eyes—doing the same thing he’s doing. The recent back-and-forth has most fans feeling the same way, that they were robbed of a massive fight. Others seem to be hoping for disaster.
The MMA Fighting community weighed in on the topic, and you can check out some of those reactions below.
