“All of the competitive fights they lose,” said Ilia Topuria, among many other things, about the hype surrounding the fighters hailing from the Republic of Dagestan. Michael Bisping claims that ‘El Matador’ seems to be gunning for the fight against Islam Makhachev, and his antics will soon be getting a response from Team Khabib because the same thing happened to Conor McGregor when he spilled his share of disparaging comments at ‘The Eagle’ and got his due thereafter.

Dagestani fighters do not like disrespect at all, and Islam Makhachev made it more clear that even curse words were a total no-no after an altercation with Dustin Poirier prior to UFC 302. Michael Bisping, in a recent YouTube video, stated, “It’s probably a subconscious thing but Ilia Topuria wants to prove that he can beat Islam and he also wants to become double champ. And I do think that Ilia Topuria will take that fight. Why? Because Ilia is talking mad sh*t.”

“He’s discrediting him [Makhachev]. He’s talking bad about him. He thinks that he can beat him. Not just him, he’s talking about Dagestani fighters in general, and if there’s one thing that we know about fighters from Dagestan,” Michael Bisping further stated. “They are proud, they are patriotic and they take this sh*t seriously.”

Ilia Topuria will certainly have to answer for his recent statements, according to Michael Bisping. However, ‘The Count’ believes that the featherweight champion would be giving those answers inside the Octagon face-to-face against Islam Makhachev in a title fight. “If Ilia carries on down this line, down this path, down this antagonization route, which I love by the way, then I think we’re going to see this matchup,” the former middleweight champion added.

Ilia Topuria has really garnered people’s attention with his distasteful remarks about Khabib Nurmagomedov, his protégé Islam Makhachev, and the whole Dagestani dugout. But there is another parallel storyline that’s developing.

There is a high chance that Islam Makhachev does end up fighting Ilia Topuria because his own double championship dreams may have to wait. Michael Bisping also devised a theory about the course team Khabib could take with Belal Muhammad as the welterweight champion.

Michael Bisping reveals another reason he predicts Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev materializing

Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman believes Islam Makhachev should take the chance and fight Belal Muhammad. He is simply one who joined him in training not too long ago and doesn’t share the same history and relationship that he shares with Khabib Nurmagomedov and the other Dagestani lot. “Just because he comes into our camp, just tries to use our bodies and learn our style? I’m moving up, I’m whipping him, I’m taking that belt,” ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ said on his ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

However, Michael Bisping revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov is “very controlling” of his team. He has shut down any chance of him letting Islam Makhachev or Belal Muhammad fight each other because of their shared training practices. “I have seen clips where he can’t believe it. if somebody steps in, they come onto the mats, they share training tips and techniques and just a methodology on how they prepare for a fight, then of course they become brothers and you can’t allow anyone in,” Bisping further stated. “I don’t think he’d allow Islam or Belal to face one another, anyway.”

Well, Islam Makhachev has maintained his stance on not giving any more chances to lower-weight class contenders. And if he doesn’t get the welterweight title, he’s more than willing to jump two steps up to the middleweight division. What do you think? Let us know in the comments down below.