TJ Dillashaw can’t see Ilia Topuria taking on Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title.
Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) won the vacant lightweight title by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June. After vacating his featherweight title earlier in the year specifically to pursue then-lightweight champion Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) for the 155-pound belt, Topuria said following his win over “Do Bronx” that he still intended to chase a fight with Makhachev, who had since moved up to 170 pounds.
After Makhachev defeated Jack Della Maddalena to become the welterweight champion, the wave of contenders in that division began staking their claims to be his first challenger. Carlos Prates, Michael Morales, and Ian Machado Garry have all produced statement wins recently, pushing any potential grudge match between Topuria and Makhachev further out of reach for now.
Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw believes any idea “El Matador” has of moving up yet another weight class to chase Makhachev is nothing more than a pipe dream.
“Stupid…he's not moving up,” Dillashaw responded when asked on the JAXXON podcast what he thought of Topuria’s ambition to take on Makhachev at 170 pounds. “Like, come on. There's too many horses in the stable at 170.”
While Makhachev’s win over JDM has energized the welterweight division, there have also been major developments at 155 pounds. An interim title fight between Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje has been announced for UFC 324 in January, following Topuria’s decision to step away temporarily to address personal matters.
Meanwhile, Arman Tsarukyan, the division’s No. 1-ranked contender, finally returned to action with a dominant submission win over Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar a week ago.
“I do think so,” Dillashaw responded when asked if he believes that Topuria could be trying to avoid facing Tsarukyan. “Who wouldn't want to run from Arman? Have you seen him before? I do think Ilia Topuria is the highest-skilled fighter in the UFC right now, but I do think he is threatened by Arman. Arman's big. He's strong. He's great at the weight class. (His) boxing is clean. Great grappling. It's a tough fight for him. The only fight for Ilia Topuria right now is Arman.”
