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Ilia Topuria is doing everything possible to sprint towards a UFC Lightweight title shot, but 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev isn’t so convinced.
On Wednesday, news broke that Topuria was vacating his Featherweight title and moving up a division permanently. He’s been talking about fighting Makhachev for months now, and many believe he would not have done so without promises of an instant title shot. In addition, industry insiders have reported that’s the UFC’s plan, and other bout announcements like Paddy Pimblett vs. Michael Chandler support this idea as well.
The hold up would appear to be Makhachev. The current pound-for-pound king has defended his title four times now, and in a fairly strange run of circumstances, three of the four defenses were against men best known for their work at 145-pounds. Makhachev has faced critique for beating up Featherweights, though it’s hardly his fault that Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira both withdrew from planned rematches at the last second.
For that reason, however, Makhachev’s manager Rizvan Magomedov wants to see Topuria victorious at Lightweight before he receives a title shot.
“Topuria vs Dustin/Charles contender fight, to prove he’s legit lightweight,” Magomedov wrote on X. “So we don’t have to defeat another ‘small featherweight’ We need big fight that make sense for everyone. We already gave chances to featherweight champ that was reigning for long time.”
It’s a reasonable request from the Makhachev camp given the optics. However, there’s not a bigger fight available to be booked at 155-pounds than Makhachev vs. Topuria. There’s financial incentive for the UFC to book it RIGHT NOW, rather than run the risk that Topuria comes up short against the likes of Poirier or “Do Bronx.”
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Insomnia
Israel Adesanya shows Dustin Poirier some love! In my book, men like Poirier and Tony Ferguson have more than earned the right to be called champion without any asterisk …
Whenever I said UFC 243 was my first tittle defense, some get salty. I consider my “Interim” tittle win a tittle win, any fight after that is considered a tittle defense and a unification. Two things can be true at the same time . @DustinPoirier and I won our belts on the same… https://t.co/aVrJDSlb7X
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) February 20, 2025
Ah yes, this is the trash talk fight fans know and love.
Shakur Stevenson’s reaction pic.twitter.com/40bawBBt75
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) February 20, 2025
Matt Schnell’s MMA retirement lasted about the appropriate amount of time — six or so months!
Matt Schnell — who laid down his gloves signaling his retirement this past September — announces that he’s coming back for another fight and the UFC has already granted his wish #UFC pic.twitter.com/1APx7p41NE
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) February 20, 2025
Matt Schnell will fight Jimmy Flick at #UFCKansasCity on April 26th. (first rep. @FightAnalystLLC) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2025 pic.twitter.com/BUpGFHdrO4
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) February 20, 2025
Michael Chandler embraces “The Baddy” style and is already looking very fit.
In. Camp. #UFC314 pic.twitter.com/d4U3i37m4v
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) February 20, 2025
Absolutely hilarious matchmaking.
| Bryce Mitchell will compete in a 180-pound pit submission grappling match against Israeli prospect Ilay Barzilay (6-0) at #KarateCombat53 on February 28th.
[first rep. @arielhelwani] pic.twitter.com/MVByT5HN5a— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) February 20, 2025
Sounds like The Fighting Nerds are really stretching the limit of their tax write-offs.
Caio Borralho says the team brings at least 100 glasses for every trip that they go on.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/Kd8foirFp3
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 19, 2025
If Alexander Volkanovski is not victorious versus Diego Lopes, Max Holloway’s future suddenly looks bright at 145-pounds. He stands a reasonable chance against both Lopes and Movsar Evloev …
Max Holloway moving up to LW for better opportunities just for Ilia Topuria to do the same months later pic.twitter.com/LbGovFRnIV
— Elonov (@ElonovMMA) February 20, 2025
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Does One Championship have an interesting Heavyweight on its hands?!?
A heavyweight who punches to the body and ends fights with calf kicks… do my eyes deceive me
— ??????????? (@TheArtOfWar6) February 20, 2025
Ducked right into the head kick:
PFFFFF. Shamil Erdogan destroys Aung La Nsang with a massive head kick in the first 30 seconds of R1 #ONE171 pic.twitter.com/H9ilqPwEYX
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 20, 2025
Breaking: Ilia Topuria confirmed to be really cool, generally good at fighting.
@Topuriailia https://t.co/r9k7oZSbWD pic.twitter.com/LWMxPirrSQ
— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) February 20, 2025
Random Land
Vaguely off-putting.
Protoclone, the world’s first bipedal, musculoskeletal android. pic.twitter.com/oIV1yaMSyE
— Clone (@clonerobotics) February 19, 2025
Midnight Music: Alternative, 1996
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.