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Ilia Topuria has issued a cold response to a challenge that Khabib Nurmagomedov issued for Topuria earlier this year before potentially fighting champion Islam Makhachev.
When Topuria vacated his featherweight throne in pursuit of lightweight gold and wanted to challenge Makhachev, the latter's teammate and friend, Nurmagomedov didn't second the bout and instead said that Topuria must beat Dustin Poirier or Charles Oliveira, after which Makhachev won't hesitate to fight him.
However, Makhachev vs. Topuria didn't come to fruition as the Russian fighter decided to vacate his 155-pound championship and move up to 170 pounds after his friend and training partner Belal Muhammad's title loss at UFC 315.
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Recently, during the UFC 317 post-fight presser, 'El Matador' was asked by a reporter about what he thinks about Nurmagomedov's challenge and why the latter wanted him to fight Oliveira before fighting Makhachev. Topuria quipped:
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"Honestly, I don't care what he wants."
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s challenge below (10:32):
Khabib Nurmagomedov's friend breaks down Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira
Ahead of UFC 317, Khabib Nurmagomedov's friend Islam Makhachev sat down with MMA Junkie. During the interview, Makhachev broke down the UFC 317 headliner, which features a clash between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight strap.
Makhachev thinks both fighters have an equal chance and that the outcome would depend on who has the best strategy on fight night. He said:
"It depends who can follow his game plan. If Charles can take him down, he can finish him easy on the ground. Or, if Topuria can catch him, he's going to sleep. It's two options. Who is going to make the game plan work?"
Makhachev added:
"[Oliveira has a] big chance. He always fights good against strikers. He has good striking. Against [Dustin] Poirier he fought good, against [Michael] Chandler he fought good – both have good punch, both very good at stand up. But if you give him small chance, he's going to finish. That's why Charles is always dangerous. So I'll go 50/50." [h/t: MMA Junkie]
Check out Islam Makhachev's comments below (22:04):
