A much talked about lightweight title showdown Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria has been ruled out after Makhachev opted to vacate the belt in order to pursue the welterweight title, but that hasn’t stopped the two rivals engaging in a war of words instead.
Topuria gave up on his featherweight title earlier in the year in order to pursue the lightweight title, and he’s now lashed out Makhachev for having been critical of him doing so at the time given that he’s now done the same thing.
“He’s the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen in my life,” Topuria said to EuroSport. “He told me he wouldn’t give me a chance because I was the smaller guy, and now he’s the small one seeking the same opportunity I wanted. So, it’s like he criticized a decision, an action of mine, when he’s now doing the exact same thing. I’ve never seen such hypocrisy, but that’s how he’s being advised, I guess.”
Topuria also went on to claim that Makhachev and his advisors have deliberately made this move up a division in order to avoid the risk of having to fight him.
“They snuck him out the back door,” Topuria claimed. “Everyone knows it. It was the fight everyone wanted to see. I was ready for it. I’d prepared and put everything on the table, but they backed out.
“From the start, they never once agreed to the fight. They always said I didn’t deserve it, didn’t want to give another small guy a chance. They never accepted the fight or did me any favors. They only did themselves a favor by escaping in time to keep some credibility and value.”
Makhachev has since fired back at Topuria, pointing out that he defended his belt multiple times before vacating it, whereas the former 145lb kingpin had only done so once.
“Difference between me and you, that I cleaned top list in my division, moved to next, but you ran away from two contenders who had consecutive 5-9 wins in the [featherweight] division,” Makhachev wrote. “You are nobody in [lightweight] division, just a big mouth from Spain with nice haircut. Go get one W, and we can talk boy.”
“The difference between you and me is that I am a man and you are a coward. I speak and fight,” Topuria responded. “You talk and hide. Run away far, leaving no trace.”
Topuria will now move on to fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 317 next month, while Makhachev is expected to fight newly crowned 170lb champ Jack Della Maddalena at a date still to be confirmed at this stage.
