In the latest edition of UFC’s matchmaking maze, Islam Makhachev’s future seems to be in limbo. For the unversed, the former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria claimed that he’s training for a return at UFC 317, and as far as speculations are concerned, he’s supposed to fight the Dagestani 155lbs kingpin. After all, the Georgian-Spanish star claimed to have been promised a title shot by Dana White when he decided to drop the featherweight belt. Well, it seems like ‘La Leyenda’ is in luck and could get his wish.

Recently, several speculations have taken shape, claiming that UFC 315’s headliner between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena will determine the lightweight champion’s next move. How? Well, Makhachev has been talking about being a double champion. “I’m not gonna leave this sport without second belt. This is my goal,” Makhachev made his wishes clear ahead of UFC 311.

But with Belal Muhammad as the champion, it seemed unlikely. His mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has made it clear that he won’t be able to prepare his protege for a fight against the UFC’s first Palestinian champion. “Islam wants to fight at 170lb, but we can’t go up there because Belal is the champion. [He] is very close to us. We can’t exchange our relationships for belts, that’s not the way we are.” Nurmagomedov told Adam Zubayraev recently.

“If Della Maddalena was the champion, Islam would fight him for sure. As far as I see it, the UFC are waiting for the event in May, where Belal and Maddalena are set to fight each other.” And it seems that the former 155lbs kingpin was right after all! Even before Khabib offered his explanation, speculations cited that if it’s Jack Della Maddalena who seals the deal this weekend with a win, we could see the Australian fight Makhachev with his welterweight title on the line.

That will fulfil the Dagestan native’s wish to fight for a second belt. Moreover, in an interview with El Hormiguero, Ilia Topuria finalised his plans for UFC 317 and even reverted back to his former nickname of ‘El Matador’. The Spanish-Georgian revealed that he would be fighting for the undisputed title against former champion Charles Oliveira or Islam Makhachev. But how true is that?

Well, it turns out to be quite accurate. Although Dana White didn’t make an elaborate statement, he simply confirmed that the plans for Topuria and his UFC 317 headliner lie in the result of UFC 315’s title fight. “There’s a lot of moving parts there right now, and yeah, that’s pretty accurate,” the UFC CEO stated during the UFC 315 presser. In short, if Belal Muhammad walks out as the winner on Saturday night, then Topuria-Makhachev is set. And if the Aussie contender wins the gold, then it’s Topuria-Oliveira for the strap, with Makhachev moving up to 170lbs to challenge Della Maddalena.

For once, it seemed like Topuria’s lightweight decision put him in a limbo since he didn’t want to fight anyone else than the reigning lightweight champion. But now, things appear to have changed, and there are more chances of him making his return to a title fight.

While it’s hard to say how the fight against Charles Oliveira goes for Ilia Topuria, Belal Muhammad claims that the former 145-pound champion may not be able to do anything against Islam Makhachev. Here’s what he had to say.

Belal Muhammad claims Ilia Topuria can’t win against Islam Makhachev

Belal Muhammad has always had pretty high praise for Islam Makhachev, claiming that the lightweight champion can even fight Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title. As such, when it comes to fighting Ilia Topuria, Muhammad claims the Georgian-Spanish wouldn’t stand a chance against Makhachev purely because of the obvious size discrepancy.

‘Remember The Name’ not only shut down claims about Topuria beating Islam Makhachev, but he also suggested that his team stay in their lane. It’s because he believes that too much trash-talk may not bode well for the ex-featherweight champion. “I think Islam’s too big for him, he’s too strong for him, and it’ll be a bad night for him, and, you know, be careful with the trash talk with those guys from that team because they don’t do the trash talk. They see you in public, they’ll fight you in public,” Muhammad told Demetrious Johnson.

Well, it will be interesting to see how things pan out for all the parties involved. Meanwhile, what do you think? Drop your comments below.