Ilia Topuria Gives 3-Step Plan to Rise to Stardom After UFC 308 Win Over Max Holloway

Ilia Topuria wants to become the UFC’s first three-division champion. The current featherweight champ, of course, is gearing up to defend his title for the first time against legendary former champion Max Holloway at UFC 308 on October 26. After which he wants to move up to lightweight and fight the 155lbs king and Pound-for-Pound #1 fighter Islam Makhachev.

But that is old news. What isn’t old news is Topuria revealing in a recent interview with ‘Shak MMA’ on YouTube that after defeating Makhachev, he wants to fight the man he has been insulting relentlessly over the past few months– Belal Muhammad— for the latter’s welterweight title. At least that is what Topuria said when asked about a three-step plan to become a superstar.

“So maybe after this one, it could be to move up to the lightweight division, and if we still have that fake champion in the welterweight division, Belal, that’s an easy run for me. And what else, it’s Max Holloway, the lightweight title, and the welterweight title. That would be that would be great,” Topuria said.

Of course, Topuria has been insulting and roundly mocking Muhammad over his disposition for decisions and alleged lackluster fighting style. This is a criticism that ‘Bully B’ has been dealing with almost his entire fighting career and is the reason he was one of the most unpopular fighters among fans. The MMA community has historically gotten behind strikers and knockout artists, neither of which are Muhammad’s style.

And that is why ‘El Matador’ has called ‘Bully B’ a ‘fake champion’ who doesn’t even deserve to be a UFC champion. It is also why Topuria thinks he has a good chance against the Palestinian-American, despite their size difference. Of course, all of this hasn’t gone well with Muhammad, who has vowed that it wouldn’t end well for Topuria should he ever run into the welterweight king.

Ilia Topuria laughs off Muhammad’s promise to slap him around

If Belal Muhammad sees Ilia Topuria in person, he will ‘slap around’ the featherweight champion. But that isn’t the worst thing Muhammad said about Topuria. What really disappointed the welterweight champ about ‘El Matador’ was that he wasn’t original in any sense.

‘Bully B’ accused Topuria of copying Conor McGregor‘s tattoos, Colby Covington‘s trash talk, and Shavkat Rakhmonov‘s insults about him. Rakhmonov, of course, is set to face Muhammad for the title at UFC 310 in December and has been insulting ‘Bully B’ for being unable to finish his opponents.

On being asked what his reaction to Muhammad’s threats was, Topuria was unfazed. The Georgia native in fact seemed quite amused at Muhammad’s threats to slap him around, wryly stating “He wants to go to the decision with me also” when asked about it. Before he thinks about moving up, however, Topuria first needs to take care of Max Holloway, which will not be an easy feat against the former champion who has been fighting the best longer than Topuria has been a professional fighter. What do you think about Topuria’s grand scheme of things? Let us know in the comment section below!