Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Thoughts on UFC Forcing Islam Makhachev to Face Ilia Topuria Makes Fans Ridicule Dana White

The Ilia Topuria-Islam Makhachev lightweight title fight might never happen, but it is opening a few cracks within the organization, making fans concerned about the state of affairs.

Earlier this week, former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria went on Joe Rogan and claimed he would only fight for the lightweight title since that’s what he was promised in return for vacating the featherweight title. He asserted that it is also the fight that everyone wanted.

Khabib Nurmagomedov has now responded to the remark and reiterated the same song, the Dagestani camp has been singing for months.

“Topuria has 6-7 fights, while Islam has 16-17. They want to take everything Islam has accumulated over the ten years in the UFC. But Islam won’t put everything he has on the line because of someone who just recently won two big fights last year”, the former champion said, much to social media ridicule. 

“The fact they believed Umar was entitled to a title shot, and were okay with ‘risking everything’ on a days notice for Moicano, suggests they have at least some fear of Topuria”, responded fans with a popular Reddit post, blaming Dana White for making UFC’s matchmaking too similar to pugilism.

“Starting to look like boxing, fighters having too much say in who they fight, makes for bad sports and meaningless rankings”, said a fan, pointing out the irony of the UFC boss publicly hating on the sport for giving too much power to its athletes for years.

Boxing has been in a rut for decades now, with promoters trying to protect their fighters’ undefeated records and pairing them up with lesser opponents. As a result, prizefights like world champions like Canelo Alvarez vs David Benavidez are unlikely to take place in the near future.

White has even joined with Turki Alalshikh to start a new promotion with the assertion of fulfilling his own demand for the sport to be fixed.

However, fans believe he should look at his own track record first.

“UFC keeps losing out on the biggest fights possible. Couldn’t get Jon Francis Can’t get Jon aspinall Can’t get ilia Islam Sucks man,” a frustrated Redditor scoffed at the UFC boss.

“I’m so f*cking tired of the UFC and all the bullsh*t going on right now….Make some sh*t happen Dana”, pleaded another, as others simply blamed the boss and his perceived favorite Jon Jones for setting the wrong example.

“Dana really opened Pandora’s box, letting Jones d*ck around so long at HW. Now all of the champs are d*cking around picking their spots and slowing things to a crawl”, they said.

In the midst of all this, Topuria has issued some choice words for Khabib and Islam.

Topuria claims Khabib is scared

The UFC lightweight division is a shark tank that Makhachev’s team has claimed he is happy to wade through.

“All Islam needs is two months to prepare for anybody. He’s not gonna care who he fights” his coach Javier Mendez had told Submission Radio earlier this year in February.

However, it doesn’t seem he’s willing to swim towards Topuria. At this point, it seems rather obvious that Islam is waiting for the Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Madallena fight at UFC.

While his team has clarified that he wouldn’t fight Belal under any circumstances, should the Palestinian-American drop the 170 lbs title to JDM, Islam is expected to jump the gun and shoot his shot at a second title.

Topuria, however, isn’t concerned with Islam’s plan for the future. He has promised to finish Islam with his own favorite submission: the D’Arce choke.

And now, in light of Khabib’s disparaging remarks about his eligibility to lay claim to the 155 lbs crown, the Spaniard has issued a reality check for the 29-0 legend.

 “Khabib knows I’m the one to take the belt from Islam. Only reason he doesn’t want Islam to fight me”, he tweeted earlier this week.

He has also changed his Instagram bio to Two Division World Champion, without any fight announcement or confirmed contract for the fight.

Curiously, ‘El Matador’ has been somewhat of a mystic when it comes to his fights. He changes his Instagram bio before fights, like he did against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298, calling himself the UFC featherweight champion even before the fight materialized.