When operating at the elite level in the UFC, facing killers night in and night out becomes the norm; fear doesn’t exactly factor into the equation. So, while Ilia Topuria continues to claim that lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira are avoiding him out of fear, UFC veteran Daniel Cormier simply refuses to buy it.
Having vacated his featherweight title in pursuit of loftier ambitions at 155 lbs, Topuria seems to be running out of patience amid the uncertainty over his next opponent.
The Spaniard had hoped to jump the queue in favor of a title fight, but having already faced his fair share of featherweights, Makhachev has refused to give him the time of day.
Oliveira, too, refuses to entertain yet another #1 contender fight, asserting his history of a successful title campaign from 2021-22 and a right to rematch against the Dagestani champion – one he lost his title to at UFC 280.
In response, Topuria seems to be playing the only card available to him – calling them out over a perceived lack of spine.
“Neither of them seems to dare fight me… these are the symptoms of fear”, he has said, something Cormier found laughable on his YouTube channel.
“Essentially he is just saying that these guys are scared. I mean come on man, Ilia Topuria is a cool guy but I kinda disagree. I know for sure Islam Makhachev is not afraid of him”, the former two-division champion said, speaking for his old friend.
“I’ll tell you this as a person who is a friend of Islam, as a person who has known Islam for years and years. Ilia Topuria might strike fear in most or some, Islam is not afraid of him”, asserted Cormier.
DC also dismissed the idea that other top contenders like Justin Gaethje, Oliveira, or Dustin Poirier would be afraid of Topuria—or anyone else, for that matter.
As Cormier put it, these veterans of the lightweight division are individuals at the top of their field, with 115 professional fights between them, and another fight would just be another day at the office for the former champions.
In the meantime, Islam’s team already has their eyes on one of these veterans, who they have long considered the toughest fight for the lightweight champion on a 15-fight win streak.
Mendez eyes former interim champion
Before dropping the BMF title to Max Holloway at UFC 300 last year via a vicious final-second KO, Gaethje was expected to be the next in line for the title. In fact, weeks after the former interim champion fell, Islam’s coach, Javier Mendez, had made it known that they had expected him to be the toughest battle the champion could hope to prepare for.
Gaethje, a former NCAA Division I wrestler who has since fallen in love with striking, would play the perfect foul against someone of Islam’s style.
With the technique and skills required to stuff takedowns while continuing to mount offense on the champion, Justin theoretically could improve on Poirier’s failed attempt at capturing the title at UFC 302.
And now that he’s back after almost a year and with a dominant win against Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313, Mendez believes the iron is hot enough to strike – calling for the inevitable clash to actualize.
Speaking to Submission Radio, Mendez called Gaethje “the perfect matchup,” elaborating that “he’s a big, known guy and Islam hasn’t fought him—so it’s perfect.”
As the 3rd ranked fighter on the lightweight roster, even UFC bossman Dana White sees the Colorado native joining the 155 lb gold rush soon- metaphorically pushing Topuria’s ambitions further down the lane.
