Reigning UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who not too long ago named Islam Makhachev as his next big target, reminded the UFC’s top fighter of his only career defeat.
The undefeated Spanish-Georgian welterweight posted on social media the end of the fight between the Russian and Adriano Martins, which the Brazilian won by first-round technical knockout nine years ago. Topuria tagged Makhachev in the video and also left a laughing emoji.
On Feb. 17 at UFC 298 in Anaheim, Elijah Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the second round, taking the Australian’s featherweight title from him, and in a later interview said he aims to become a double champion, promising to give Islam Makhachev trouble.
In addition, the new UFC champion expressed confidence that he could beat Makhachev’s friend and sparring partner, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who ended his professional fighting career in 2020 and went undefeated, in the octagon.
At the same time, Topuria made it clear that he is not currently interested in a fight with undefeated Russian Movsar Evloyev, who is ranked fifth in the UFC’s welterweight rankings and won’t stop challenging him.
Islam Makhachev, who holds the UFC lightweight belt and tops the UFC’s P4P rankings, plans to make a title defense this summer against the winner of a challenger bout between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, which takes place April 13 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/34026-iliya-topuriya-posmeyalsya-nad-porazheniem-islama-makhacheva.html?rand=19907
