Ariel Helwani Suggests UFC Waiting on Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena Winner to Book Ilia Topuria

Ilia Topuria has apparently declined to fight for a no 1 contender’s spot at 155 lbs, which means his only goal is to end up in the octagon with the lightweight champion, be it Islam Makhachev or someone else. But if that is a surety, why hasn’t the UFC announced it?

The UFC might be playing the long game here. They might not want to put two of their biggest stars in the same fight and lose the hype behind at least one of them. The solution would be to push Islam to welterweight but the lightweight champion has made it clear that he has no intention of challenging for the 170 lbs title as long as Belal holds the belt.

And therein lies the dilemma. Helwani believes the solution to this situation is straightforward but heavily reliant on one outcome: a Jack Della Maddalena victory. “What’s the solution to that? JDM wins the belt and then you could do Islam vs. JDM and you could do Charles vs. Ilia.”, Helwani suggested.

 

However, the situation becomes more complicated if Muhammad retains the title. Helwani is eager to see how the UFC handles this scenario, as it would force them to reconsider their matchmaking plans for both Topuria and Makhachev.

Of course, this could be solved if ‘El Matador‘ would just fight someone else for the no 1 contender spot. This would buy the UFC some time and allow things to fall into place. But to be fair to Topuria, he’s just given up on a title that he’s won and defended against legends of the game. So why should he be the one to sacrifice?

Topuria deserves lightweight shot

While some believe Topuria has the skills to compete for gold right away, Makhachev and his team, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, argue that he must first prove himself against a top contender.

Arman Tsarukyan, currently within reaching distance of Islam’s gold, seemed like a logical opponent for Topuria. However, the Spanish-Georgian fighter appears uninterested in taking that route.

This stance puts Topuria in direct opposition to Team Khabib, which insists that he must work his way up before receiving a championship opportunity.

Makhachev himself has echoed this sentiment, stating that Topuria hasn’t done enough in the lightweight division to warrant a title fight just yet.

Now, that is indeed interesting since this hasn’t stopped Islam from fighting contenders before. He fought Volkanovski twice, once on short notice and once with a full camp. Besides, if the UFC doesn’t allow Tsarukyan to fight him, there are few contenders at 155 lbs to even offer him a competent challenge.

Tsarukyan will need to have a title contender match at some point, while Gaethje’s challenge for gold will depend on his performance against Dan Hooker at UFC 313. So neither fighter will be available for the better part of this year.

Besides, Makahchev’s coach Javier Mendez has already claimed that if the UFC wanted to make Islam vs Ilia, Team Khabib would not reject it.

He is confident that given 2 months of preparation, his fighter can beat anyone who stands across him in the octagon.