UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria is following in Conor McGregor’s footsteps. After making history by knocking out the nigh unbeatable Alexander Volkanovski in his own ‘McGregor-Aldo’ moment, the Spaniard now wants to take the next step and clinch a second-division belt just like his ‘idol’.

To achieve that, he is calling out the lightweight king and the current P4P #1 in the world Islam Makhachev. Interestingly, this is even before ‘El Matador’ has made his first title defense. But Makhachev’s friend and teammate, #1 ranked bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov thinks Topuria should focus on his own division for the time being.

“I think for Ilia Topuria no need for this. He do not need this and he has his division and he have to build some legacy, do some name on his weight, you know. He just become champion, you have to defend your title a couple times, even one time, please. Stay focused on your division, he have Movsar [Evloev], and Aljamain Sterling on the way. He have right now Max Holloway and when you have good fights in your division, be quiet, beat everybody… Like he clean his division and then he want to come to up I understand,” Nurmagomedov told ‘Submission Radio’ in an interview.

Topuria, of course, is set to defend his title for the first time against legendary former champion Max Holloway at UFC 308 this month. And as Nurmagomedov pointed out, Dana White doesn’t like when his champions talk about moving up before they have taken care of the top contenders in their divisions. This can’t be negated unless you are Conor McGregor, who is in a league of his own. But who does Topuria need to fight to get the green light to move up and fight for the vaunted double champ status?

Three contenders Ilia Topuria will likely need to fight before Makhachev fight

The featherweight division is alive once again since Topuria has become champion. After all, previous champion Alexander Volkanovski had already cleaned out the division, before losing his title at UFC 298. But now, ‘El Matador’ has at least three featherweights that he needs to take care of.

The first is #2 ranked Brazilian dynamo Diego Lopes who is also the backup fighter for the Topuria-Holloway UFC 308 clash. After which a rematch with Volkanovski is most likely. At least that’s what ‘Volk’ believes. Not too far behind is undefeated #5 ranked Movsar Evloev.

Of course, Dana White and Co. could change their mind at any point and even have Topuria fight Makhachev right after the Holloway fight. This is the fight game that we are talking about after all! But since the UFC CEO has been hesitant to let even light heavyweight champion Alex Periera move up, despite the Brazilian having three title defenses already, the prospect that Topuria will be allowed right away seems very unlikely. What are your thoughts on Umar Nurmagomedov’s comments on Ilia Topuria?