When Ilia Topuria claimed that he would put the entire lightweight division in mayhem, he was not expecting the lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev to come for him. Well, was he fazed? Certainly not, ‘El Matador’ has been beefing with the lightweight champ. What triggered this dispute, you ask? Well, the featherweight champion took to his social to state that he could decimate the entire lightweight division, “Why not (move up to lightweight)? I’ve done it once, I could do it again. The truth is that of course I do (see myself fighting Makhachev). He’s a great fighter. Sometimes he talks too much, sometimes not.”

The entire Team Khabib has called out Ilia Topuria following his statement, and it appears that the lightweight champion has taken matters into his own hands, urging ‘El Matador’ to focus on his upcoming match. Bellator champion Usman Nurmagomedov was the first fighter from the Team Khabib camp to call out the featherweight champ, “When did you fight on the streets European boy”. This jab by the bantamweight fighter got a sharp response from the featherweight champion who invoked from past horrors for the Dagestani, “It has been a long time, to be honest. How are you doing with dr–s? Are you still on steroids?”

Well, this back-and-forth between Ilia Topuria and Team Khabib has forced Islam Makhachev to come forward to make a statement against the Georgian fighter. While having a conversation on MatchTv, the undisputed featherweight champion took the mic to state that Topuria should focus on his upcoming match with Max Holloway at UFC 308 rather than making baseless comments – “If Topuria continues in the same spirit, he may play himself out. Something may happen. So far I have not seen anyone cross any personal boundaries, so far nothing like that has happened. He needs to focus on his weight class and defending his belt at least once,” said Makahchev.

His words found his way to the ears of Ilia Topuria, who took to his X handle to issue another threat for the lightweight champion. “I don’t need to cross lines but it seems like the kids that hang out with you will try to cross a line they can’t come back from. Let’s leave the kids out of it and settle it like adults inside the octagon 2025.” 

Their b͏ant͏e͏r is ͏evolving into a͏ fie͏rce rivalry, but͏ Ilia To͏puria ͏h͏as some ͏toug͏h challeng͏es ahead. Fir͏st, he͏ w͏ill have to face Ma͏x Holloway at th͏e end o͏f this mont͏h. After that,͏ he mig͏ht ha͏ve to take on ͏Alexander Volkanovs͏ki again.͏ If ͏Islam͏ ͏Ma͏k͏hachev def͏eats Arman T͏saruk͏yan, a futur͏e fight between Topuria and Makhac͏hev ͏co͏uld ͏also be on th͏e͏ horizon. Despite the emerging rivalry, Javier Mendez is not bullish on this fight.

Javier Mendez is not looking at a potential super fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria

AKA head coach Javier Mendez is of the opinion that Ilia Topuria should think before he speaks. The coach anticipates that a fight between them could turn out to be worse for the featherweight champion. Disregarding Ilia Topuria‘s callout, while having a conversation with MMAJunkie, Mendez emphasized that Islam Makahchev has much more things to worry about than having a random beef with Ilia Topuria.

“You know what, for me, if Islam (Makhachev) were to do another champ vs. champ fight, it’s better for him to go up in weight. If we had the choice, if UFC told us we could fight with the UFC welterweight champion or (Ilia) Topuria, we’d choose welterweight. That’s what I want. I’m confident that that’s what Islam wants, too,” said Javier Mendez.

Javier Mendez sees Ilia Topuria as a high-performance fighter but beefing up with his own pupil is something that he will not acknowledge. In addition, Islam Makhachev has Arman Tsarukyan to deal with, so a super fight doesn’t make sense for them. After his last title defense at UFC 302, Makhachev expressed the same wish to move up and challenge for a second title. Regardless, what’s your take on the situation? State your thoughts in the comments below.