Belal Muhammad dropped his welterweight crown at UFC 315 in what proved to be the fight of his life. And all the dominoes fell quickly after that. At least for Ilia Topuria! As confirmed by Dana White, reigning 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev is leaving the lightweight title to move up to welterweight and fight Jack Della Maddalena for the title later this year. But that also means that fans won’t get an Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria super-fight for the 155-pound title.

Instead, ‘El Matador’ will fight former champion Charles Oliveira for the undisputed and vacant lightweight title at UFC 317 on June 28. And while the former featherweight champ does seem to have some added respect for ‘Do Bronx’ for accepting the challenge, he is still pretty confident. Well, to the point of cockiness and about decimating Oliveira.

“In the first place, thanks Charles, the truth for having accepted the challenge, [which is] not something that Islam [did]. And [Oliveira] has to pay the price for Islam. I feel really very sorry for Charles. But well, at the end of the day, it’s my job,” Topuria said in Spanish at a recent press conference.

But the Spanish-Georgian superstar made it clear that he didn’t have any personal animosity with the Brazilian legend. In fact, Topuria is pretty fond of the all-out brawler and hopes to beat him in the least painful way. “Whatever is least painful for him, that’s what I’ll do because I like him a lot,” ‘El Matador’ added.

As you can see, Topuria couldn’t help but take a shot at Makhachev, whom he originally wanted to face for the title. But the lightweight champ, of course, was totally against the idea and wanted ‘El Matador’ to prove himself at lightweight first by beating a top 155-pounder.

And Makhachev has long wanted to fight for a second title, so his jump after his friend Belal Muhammad’s loss makes sense. But that is not how Topuria sees things, who feels Makhachev only left the division mostly because he was scared of fighting him.

“He [Makhachev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz] should thank me for not beating up his star and that he still has value thanks to me because they have taken him out through the back door. Everybody knows it,” the Spanish national declared. But the thing that made Topuria most mad was Islam Makhachev’s alleged hypocrisy.

Why does Ilia Topuria think Islam Makhachev is “the biggest hypocrite” he’s ever seen

As you can imagine, Makhachev moving up a division and getting a title shot straight away has really ruffled Ilia Topuria’s feathers. After all, the Dagestani’s whole case against fighting ‘El Matador’ was that he needed to prove himself at lightweight. So why doesn’t that logic apply to Makhachev moving up to welterweight? Well, because Makhachev is a huge and unashamed hypocrite, according to Topuria.

“He is the biggest hypocrite I have ever seen. He said he didn’t want to give me the opportunity because I was the little guy, now he is the little guy looking for the same opportunity that I was looking for, a hypocrite,” the former champ thundered.

To be fair to Makhachev, there is another reason he didn’t want to fight Topuria. Two of his record-breaking four lightweight title defenses came against a featherweight, Alexander Volkanovski. And as you can imagine, the Dagestani native faces questions from fans about the legitimacy of those title defenses since they came against a smaller guy.

So it is understandable why the lightweight champ wanted Topuria to fight another top star and prove himself. But try telling Ilia Topuria all that. What do you think about ‘El Matador’s ‘warning’ for Charles Oliveira ahead of their UFC 317 clash?