With Ilia Topuria announcing a move up to lightweight, it’s only a matter of time, before he eventually fights champion Islam Makhachev. But former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker believes in a world where the roles are reversed and Makhachev goes down to featherweight, Topuria would defeat him.
Speaking on an episode of the MMArcade Podcast, Whittaker claimed that it would be difficult for him to judge how Topuria would do against the lightweight champion at the latter’s natural weight class.
“But hypothetically, if Makhachev went down to fight Topuria, Topuria beats him I think. I can’t do it the other way around. Because at lightweight Islam is so strong and powerful. His boxing and kickboxing are really top-notch. It’s come a long way since we first saw him land.”
Makhachev is a force to be reckoned with at lightweight and is currently on a 14-fight win streak, with his last four wins having come from title fights, three of which have been dominant title defenses against former champions.
And in these fights, his skills only seem to have been compounded. He submitted Oliveira to win the title at UFC 280 in 2022, a fight he thoroughly dominated. As a matter of fact, even in the lead-up to it, Oliveira was considered the underdog and Islam was expected to go in and win as a formality.
Although his first title defense against Alexander Volkanovski would be a bit of a struggle with people questioning if he could ever be as dominant as his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev would bounce back in the rematch and KO Volk out with a head kick.
He would follow it up with what is considered his toughest battle yet- a 5 round fight with Dustin Poirier. Poirier would cut him open and stuff many of his takedowns. However, the ‘Diamond’ would not only get dominated on the ground, he would also get outstruck by Makhchev.
Islam would then have him tap out and then pass out from a D’Arce choke in the final round to secure a victory. If he wins his next fight against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311, this would be his fourth successful title defense, making him one of the most well-rounded fighters in the promotion.
After all, he is the pound-for-pound #1 fighter in the UFC. However, Topuria is not too far behind.
Topuria’s journey so far
Despite having styled himself after former lightweight champion Conor McGregor, Topuria’s journey to the top has been vastly different than McGregor’s. The Spaniard remains undefeated in the UFC, having secured victories via knockouts, submissions, and decisions. He has a rather diverse arsenal of styles and techniques at his disposal and hasn’t been too shy to use them.
However, it’s his boxing that has shone brighter than the rest. He is fast and precise. And for the featherweight division, he’s just been far too strong. In the span of a year, he has outboxed former featherweight champions and legends of the division like Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
While he methodically dismantled Volk to win the title, his first defense against Holloway, saw him do the impossible. Holloway, at this point, had never even been knocked down in the UFC in his more than a decade-long career. But Topuria managed to put him out for good.
So, it would be safe to say, at lightweight, that power would only increase. However, there’s a good chance, that it will also be evenly matched.
