Dustin Poirier had a word of caution for Ilia Topuria when asked about El Matador’s decision to vacate his featherweight title and move up to lightweight. “I’ve never seen him in person, everyone says he walks around heavy, but if he can make 145 [pounds], I don’t know how big he is because some of these lightweights are huge,” Poirier said. His concern is understandable. Weight classes exist in combat sports for a reason—size matters!

If Demetrious Johnson and Jon Jones were magically the same size, ‘Mighty Mouse’ might have the skill and fight IQ to compete. But in reality, physics makes that matchup impossible—Jon Jones’ sheer size and strength would make it a mismatch. However, Poirier’s worries about Topuria’s size may be misplaced, as Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo pointed out on their Pound 4 Pound podcast.

“That’s incredible, what Ilia Topuria is doing right now, Henry,” Usman said, impressed by Topuria’s decision to move on from featherweight rather than holding onto the belt as long as possible. But what truly caught the former 170lbs champ’s attention was Cejudo’s revelation about just how big Topuria really is.

“Yeah not just that to Kamaru, but he gets big bro. Ilia Topuria gets up to 190 pounds [when out of camp], man,” Cejudo shared, shocking Usman. “Really?” the former welterweight champion responded in disbelief.

“Yeah, they just did a little post on him, his coach did. He still has abs, bro—he was 187 pounds, look it up on ESPN MMA—he’s 187 pounds with freaking abs still,” Cejudo reiterated, wide-eyed.

“What I’m saying is I don’t think size is going to be the difference in this fight against Islam… Like I think he’s gonna fill in really good at 155 pounds. And if for whatever reason he does end up losing because he did vacate that belt at 145 pounds, he could always come down and fight for that strap once again,” ‘Triple C’ added.

If Topuria truly walks around at that size, he may have no problem competing with the biggest names at lightweight. In fact, he might be one of them!

Indeed, Islam Makhachev is a pretty big lightweight. But as Topuria’s coach Jorge Climent pointed out a few months ago, ‘El Matador’ balloons up to nearly 190 pounds when out of camp, which is actually higher than Makhachev’s walk-around weight of around 180 pounds. This means that the Dagestani will not have any notable size advantage over the knockout artist if and when the duo fights.

Cejudo and Poirier explain why Ilia Topuria deserves a lightweight title shot right away

Well, the whole world, including Henry Cejudo and Dustin Poirier wants to see Ilia Topuria fight Islam Makhachev next. “I think he should fight Islam Makhachev, I really do,” ‘Triple C’ opined, and for exactly the reason you would think. “I think when you knock out two guys like that [Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway], two first-ballot Hall of Famers 100% does he deserve it.”

This is a sentiment shared whole-heartedly by ‘The Diamond’. “With a guy like him, vacating the belt and moving up, finishing Max Holloway the way he did, I would give him a crack at the lightweight title right off the bat,” Poirier said in a recent interview.

Indeed, Volkanovski and Holloway are perhaps the two greatest featherweights in UFC history. And beating them should be enough to prove Topuria deserves a title shot. Not for lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, however, who has been clear! Topuria needs to “prove himself” at 155lbs before he gets a title shot.

And that means ‘El Matador’ has no choice but to face another top-ranked lightweight next, which should also tell us once and for all if his size is an issue for Topuria at 155lbs. What do you think about Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman’s take on Ilia Topuria’s size?