Since the day Ilia Topuria announced that he’d be vacating his featherweight title for a shot at the lightweight gold, it seems the world of MMA finds itself revolving around his next fight in every conversation involving him. The Spanish-Georgian claimed that the UFC has promised him a title shot, saying: “The UFC promised me I’d fight for the belt. That’s why I vacated it. And they’ve always kept their promise.” Though still not put in ink and paper, it seems Dana White & Co. are going to do whatever it takes to make this fight happen.

The biggest obstacle between Topuria and his 155-pound title shot is the lightweight champion himself, Islam Makhachev, and his team. After beating the challenger and twice featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, two times in a row, Makhachev and his team are asking the UFC to give them a fresh contender from the 155-pound division. The Dagestani combat sambo specialist is tired of hosting double-champ opportunities for featherweights. His mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov even said: “I don’t know what kind of agreements Topuria and UFC had, but from Islam’s side, he already gave two title shots to 145-pound champions.”

However, the UFC wants Makhachev to take on Topuria at all costs. Rumor has it, that if Islam wants to move to welterweight, he has to vacate his lightweight title, and in the process, may face a delay in his next fight with a welterweight title bout already set for UFC 315. Makhachev’s tragedy doesn’t end there; the welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad, is a close friend of the Dagestani team, and with him at the top, coach Khabib has rejected a chance of a fight between the two. As Makhachev plans to get in more title defenses on his resume, according to an insider, the UFC is trying its best to convince him to accept the fight.

While talking to Submission Radio, UFC analyst Laura Sanko revealed: “I think that the UFC really wants Islam vs Topuria and I think that they will do whatever it takes to make that fight happen financially. And I think that if JDM ends up beating Belal, we’ve got a pretty tight race depending on the health of Shavkat, between Ian Garry, Shavkat, and, I mean, really to me, it comes down to, and then Sean Brady.”

Heading towards International Fight Week, The UFC knows how big of a draw this fight is, and they don’t want to let go of the perfect time to cash in their most hyped event of the year so far. A clash between Makhachev with the whole of Russia backing him, Topuria too has an army of Georgians behind him, and if that is not enough, he has a backup of Spaniards as well, to make the fight a potentially record-breaking event.

Even if not official, Topuria has hinted at a return to the Octagon, sooner rather than later. He took to his X account to assert that what he wants might be happening very soon.

“The camp has begun.”- Ilia Topuria hints return on International Fight Week

It seems Ilia Topuria has made a habit of having our attention. Long before he vacated his featherweight gold, his presence in the Octagon had already established him as one of the best fighters in all of the organization. His knock-out victory over Alexander Volkanovski terrified the whole of the MMA community, considering ‘Volk’ was coming out of two fights at lightweight against Makhachev, and he still couldn’t stand next to the ‘La Leyenda’.

Following his title-winning victory over Volk, Topuria went one step further to knock Max Holloway out and become the first fighter ever to do so. The Spanish-Georgian fighter ever after this fight set his eyes on the lightweight throne and following his latest X post, it seems his demands have been met by the UFC. If his training camp has indeed begun, who is he going to face?

While rumors suggest Islam will be facing Topuria for the lightweight gold, another situation has also transpired in the case where Makhachev vacates his belt for his ventures up and above. If Islam goes for the welterweight gold, it will only be under the condition he faces Jack Della Madallena or anyone not named Belal Muhammad, following the UFC  315 results. In this case, it is rumored to be Arman Tsarukyan who will possibly be the headliner against Topuria, being the #1 contender for the belt. However, with Belal likely to defend his belt, many believe we will finally see Islam Makhachev clash against Ilia Topuria.

With the path and planning underway for the UFC’s International Fight Week, will we see ‘La Leyenda’ compete for the gold? And if he does, who will he go up against? Islam Makhachev or Arman Tsarukyan? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.