Ilia Topuria (15-0-0), UFC featherweight world champion, is not a fighter who settles. After “visualizing” – as he repeated on numerous occasions – his destiny as champion, achieving it by striking down Alexander Volkanovski in Anaheim and obtaining the belt, he does not stop there. He goes for the story. “Being on a list of fighters like Jon Jones, Georges St. Pierre, Khabib or Conor McGregor will make me happy. There is room for everyone. If it must happen, it will happen,” he continued before fighting ‘The Great’. And after the victory, he aims for everything.
Topuria, with the belt.
There is room for everyone. If it must happen, it will happen
After landing in Spain he detailed what his possible plan would be like. A fight, in Spain, against some rival like Max Holloway -with the BMF on the table-, Conor McGregor or Sean O’Malley. And then, the pound-for-pound number 1. Topuria entered the lists hitting hard, occupying 5th in the classification. But she looks at the monarch, Islam Makhachev (25-1-0), number 1 and lightweight champion, the most complex weight in the UFC.
I see myself as a double champion
“It would be the fight that would bring me closest to number 1 in the pound-for-pound ranking. I see myself as a double champion,” he explained. It will be a ‘climb’ to the 155 pounds and be able to fight champion against champion for the Dagestan belt. That’s right, Islam Makhachev They are big words.
Islam Makhachev is the king of the UFC: he destroys Volkanovski with a legendary KO!
In fact, The Russian does not hide anything and accepts Topuria’s challenge. “Another short boy who is talking. Another short boy who wants to be crushed”, commented on the Halle-born fighter in a statement revealed by MMAUncensored. He points him out with his past as an argument, since he has defended the belt on two occasions against Alexander Volkanovski, who attempted the same thing that Topuria intends.
Another short boy wants to be crushed
Makhachev lived, however, in a different situation. After ‘stealing’ Charles Oliveira’s belt, he challenged, along with his teacher Khabib Nurmagomedov, Volkanovski, which at that time was the best in the world. He went to Australia and won by decision. They repeated the fight in Abu Dhabi, an expected rematch, in which ‘Volk’ came on ‘short notice’ but Makhachev decided the battle in the first round after a kick to the head. Topuria would measure itself, in this way, against its greatest challenge.
Topuria’s response to Makhachev
Y TopuriaOf course, he responded on his Instagram account with a cryptic message in Georgian. It didn’t take him long to do it.
MARCA consulted a Georgian journalist and translator to understand the context of these words. “It’s kind of a play on words. ‘Bicho’ means ‘hey, guy,’ which is not a polite way to address someone. In Georgian slang, if someone addresses you this way, you respond ‘Bichom gircho.’ ” (the rhyme with endings -cho -cho), which In slang it has a meaning of “the guy fucked you in the ass.” Makhachev addressed Topuria in this way and received the response from him,” Kakha Dgebuadze explains to MARCA.com.
In the ‘story’ published on Instagram, Topuria reminds Makhachev of his only defeat. It was at UFC 192 against Adriano Martins, by KO in the first round. “I have learned a lot from that defeat,” the Dagestan man commented years later. It was in October 2015 and in his second fight in the UFC. Then, all victories.