The GOAT debate has kicked off once again, and this time, it dethroned Khabib Nurmagomedov from the discussions. Well, it might have been because of Ilia Topuria’s beef with Islam Makhachev. The featherweight champion has been asking for a superfight against the lightweight king for ages. But when it came to talking about his top 3 fighters in the realm of MMA, we all know who it was. After all, Topuria wasn’t going to put a Dagestani on the top while beefing up with Makhachev. 

On 13 February 2025, Full Send Podcast premiered an episode that featured  Ilia Topuria. And one of the questions that the host, Kyle Forgeard asked the featherweight champion was about Topuria’s top 3 fighters of all time. And the Spaniard put Jon Jones at the top. However, his selection of the P4P #1 had the undefeated former lightweight champion, Nurmagomedov, under heavy fire. 

‘El Matador’ said, “The first one has to be Jon Jones. You have to give credit to that man, because, to me too fun when I see people comparing him with the Dagestani guys, even with Khabib, or Islam, or that. All the respect to all the champions. But for example, Khabib,  he has how many, 14-15 fights in the UFC? Jon Jones have 15 title defenses.” Forgeard pointed out that ‘Bones’ has been reigning the Octagon for ages. He was active since the time of Georges St-Pierre and is still active at the age of 37. On the other hand, most of the fighters who fought during GSP’s prime had already retired, except Jones. And that’s what cemented Topuria’s take on Jones as the #1 fighter of all time. 

Things became even more troublesome for the Dagestani team as ‘El Matador’ talked about his hypothetical superfight against Islam Makhachev. Well, for now, the featherweight champ doesn’t have any fight announced. But the fighting community likes to think that he would go up against Alexander Volkanovski for a rematch. Maybe after that, we might get to see the battle between the Dagestani and the Spaniard. However, there was one thing that concerned the fighting realm. What did Topuria think of his matchup against Makhachev? Let’s find out!

Ilia Topuria exudes nothing but confidence against Islam Makhachev

Ilia Topuria indeed seemed confident when it came to the superfight against the lightweight champion. After all, he told the Full Send Podcast host that he could beat the current champion. However, he liked to believe that it all depended on the will of God. Topuria said, “We all know at some point, I will connect that punch, and everything will depend on what God will decide. If he wants to send Islam to sleep or not, who knows that? I know that.”

‘El Matador’ was also confident in his ground game, and claimed that he could submit Makhachev. Well, after the kind of dominating wrestling Makhachev displayed at UFC 311, Topuria’s claims did seem a bit far-fetched. And that’s because Topuria represents “the new generation of mixed martial arts.” The fighters were previously categorized as strikers or grapplers. Strikers didn’t have a good grappling game, and grapplers were weak when it came to striking. But Topuria was different. He said, “In my case, I’m good everywhere. So, you can take me everywhere and I’m gonna feel comfortable. They used to say, ‘I’m gonna take you to the deep water.’ I was born in the deep water. Take me wherever you want to take me.”

But the one thing that surprised many was the Georgian-Spanish fighter’s claims about the bout. He believed that he had more than one weapon to use against Makhachev. However, it was his claim that he needed to connect just one punch to take the Dagestani down that shocked the fighting community. Well, he does base his strikes based on technique and knows where to punch. But we’ll have to wait for the superfight to happen to see how well Topuria fares against Makhachev. 

What are your thoughts on Topuria’s take on the greatest fighter of all time? Do you agree with the featherweight champion’s reasoning? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.