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‘Coward’ – Ilia Topuria fires back at UFC champion Islam Makhachev after ‘nobody’ admission
Ilia Topuria believes Islam Makhachev is a ‘coward’ for vacating his title and moving up a division. UFC CEO Dana White announced on Tuesday that UFC lightweight champion Makhachev will vacate his belt to contend for welterweight gold against newly crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena. Ex-featherweight champion Topuria faces Charles Oliveira for lightweight gold in JuneGetty Makhachev will fight Della Maddalena next with welterweight gold on the lineGetty A similar announcement was made three months ago, when it was revealed that Topuria would drop his featherweight title after knocking out Max Holloway to contend at lightweight. This put Topuria in prime position to fight Makhachev for the lightweight title in his next fight, leaving UFC fans in limbo over who the 28-year-old Spaniard would fight in his new division first. White clarified this during this week’s announcement, revealing that Topuria would face Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 to fight for the belt Makhachev is leaving behind. This has prompted a feud between both Topuria and Makhachev’s teams, and the latter continued that on Thursday with some strong words for the former. “[The] difference between me and you is that I cleaned the top list in my division, and moved to the next,” Makhachev wrote on X. “But you ran away from two contenders who had consecutive 5-9 wins in [the featherweight] division. “You are a nobody in the [lightweight] division, just a big mouth from Spain with a nice haircut. Go get one [win], and we can talk boy.” Topuria decided to vacate the title at 145 lbs after just one defence of it. ‘El Matador’ knocked out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February 2024 to become UFC featherweight champion, before defending it against Max Holloway eight months later. Makhachev, meanwhile, defended his belt four times as he submitted Oliveira at UFC 280 in October 2022 to win it, although two of those defences came against Volkanovski, who was fighting up a weight. Topuria said Makhachev is a ‘coward’Getty He vacated the featherweight title just four months after knocking out HollowayGetty His last defence of the UFC lightweight strap came against current No.10 ranked lightweight Renato Moicano, who replaced an injured Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311 in January on short notice. Before that, Makhachev defended the title by securing a submission win at UFC 302 over Dustin Poirier, who will retire after his next bout against Holloway in July. “The difference between you and me is that I am a man and you are a coward,” Topuria said, responding to Makhachev’s comments. “I speak and fight. You talk and hide. Run away far, leaving no trace.” He then wrote in Makhachev’s native Russian tongue: “You are a small boy.” Makhachev’s UFC future depended on the result of Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 this past weekend. Makhachev has had a fairly easy run of fights as lightweight championGETTY He is set to fight Della Maddalena for the welterweight title nextGetty The Australian defeated Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 to win his first title in the promotionGetty He had been contemplating a move up to the welterweight division for a while, but did not want to fight his teammate and friend Muhammad to become the king at 170lbs. Makhachev announced his intentions after Della Maddalena became new champion with victory over Muhammad at UFC 315. He posted on X in the aftermath: “Time to become a double champion. Let’s go.” Della Maddalena was keen on the fight too, having said he was open to fight the Russian prior to his win over Muhammad. “I think it’s a beautiful challenge,” he said. “He’s pound-for-pound No.1. I’m going to get him back for Alexander Volkanovski.” Della Maddalena is now 8-0 in the UFC and likely to face the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound king Makhachev in the first defence of his new crown.
Ilia Topuria believes Islam Makhachev is a ‘coward’ for vacating his title and moving up a division.
UFC CEO Dana White announced on Tuesday that UFC lightweight champion Makhachev will vacate his belt to contend for welterweight gold against newly crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena.
A similar announcement was made three months ago, when it was revealed that Topuria would drop his featherweight title after knocking out Max Holloway to contend at lightweight.
This put Topuria in prime position to fight Makhachev for the lightweight title in his next fight, leaving UFC fans in limbo over who the 28-year-old Spaniard would fight in his new division first.
White clarified this during this week’s announcement, revealing that Topuria would face Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 to fight for the belt Makhachev is leaving behind.
This has prompted a feud between both Topuria and Makhachev’s teams, and the latter continued that on Thursday with some strong words for the former.
“[The] difference between me and you is that I cleaned the top list in my division, and moved to the next,” Makhachev wrote on X.
“But you ran away from two contenders who had consecutive 5-9 wins in [the featherweight] division.
“You are a nobody in the [lightweight] division, just a big mouth from Spain with a nice haircut. Go get one [win], and we can talk boy.”
Topuria decided to vacate the title at 145 lbs after just one defence of it.
‘El Matador’ knocked out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February 2024 to become UFC featherweight champion, before defending it against Max Holloway eight months later.
Makhachev, meanwhile, defended his belt four times as he submitted Oliveira at UFC 280 in October 2022 to win it, although two of those defences came against Volkanovski, who was fighting up a weight.
His last defence of the UFC lightweight strap came against current No.10 ranked lightweight Renato Moicano, who replaced an injured Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311 in January on short notice.
Before that, Makhachev defended the title by securing a submission win at UFC 302 over Dustin Poirier, who will retire after his next bout against Holloway in July.
“The difference between you and me is that I am a man and you are a coward,” Topuria said, responding to Makhachev’s comments.
“I speak and fight. You talk and hide. Run away far, leaving no trace.”
He then wrote in Makhachev’s native Russian tongue: “You are a small boy.”
Makhachev’s UFC future depended on the result of Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 this past weekend.
He had been contemplating a move up to the welterweight division for a while, but did not want to fight his teammate and friend Muhammad to become the king at 170lbs.
Makhachev announced his intentions after Della Maddalena became new champion with victory over Muhammad at UFC 315.
He posted on X in the aftermath: “Time to become a double champion. Let’s go.”
Della Maddalena was keen on the fight too, having said he was open to fight the Russian prior to his win over Muhammad.
“I think it’s a beautiful challenge,” he said. “He’s pound-for-pound No.1. I’m going to get him back for Alexander Volkanovski.”
Della Maddalena is now 8-0 in the UFC and likely to face the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound king Makhachev in the first defence of his new crown.
