The MMA realm witnessed quite a bit of heat from the featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions, as Ilia Topuria gave a callout to Islam Makhachev. Needless to say, the fighters have set their aim at nothing but greatness. And one of the ways to achieve greatness comes by becoming champions in multiple divisions. With a move to the lightweight division in mind, Topuria took aim at Makhachev, but he was intercepted by Belal Muhammad. Unfortunately, that gave rise to a bit more heat between the champions.

In a conversation with Denis Shkuratov of Submission Radio, ‘Remember The Name’ talked about the warnings he previously sent to Topuria. After all, Belal Muhammad simply couldn’t accept someone talking badly about his close friends. The welterweight champion said, “Well that, that clown, it came from, they asked me about Ilia was coming at Islam.”

Muhammad warned Topuria of Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s team’s strength. Being a part of Team Khabib, Muhammad knew pretty well that the Dagestanis wouldn’t really accept all that disrespect. He continued, “And I said, ‘be careful what you say to Islam and these guys from Dagestan.’ They don’t play, right? You don’t sit there and disrespect them in the ways that you’re trying to because he gets really stupid with the way he talks trash. Because he’s not really good at it.” 

Muhammad seemed to believe that there was someone else who asked the featherweight champion to talk trash about Makhachev. But it definitely came at a cost. The Palestinian fighter asked him to watch what he said. But instead, ‘El Matador’ lashed back at Muhammad. He continued, “And then he’s like, ‘Oh, this guy is a fake champion.’ He’s calling McGregor a fake fighter. Like I said, he’s not very witty with what he says.”

In the end, Muhammad asked Topuria to focus on his upcoming fight against Max Holloway at UFC 308. He said, “He’s fighting next week, right? So, pay attention to the guy you’re fighting. Look at Max Holloway. That’s the guy that you need to be looking at right now. Because you don’t wanna look this way. You’re just gonna look stupid.”

But what did Topuria say that triggered the welterweight champ? Let’s take a look at the featherweight king’s words.

Ilia Topuria paints a target on Islam Makhachev and Belal Muhammad 

‘El Matador’ is all set to land against Holloway and defend his featherweight championship title at UFC 308. But staying in the featherweight division will bring about a plateau in his career. Hence, the Georgian decided to move up in the weight class. He revealed, “So maybe after this one, it could be to move up to the lightweight division, and if we still have that fake champion in the welterweight division, Belal, that’s an easy run for me. And what else, it’s Max Holloway, the lightweight title, and the welterweight title. That would be that would be great.”

Topuria had already competed in the lightweight division once before. This imbued a great deal of confidence in him as he claimed that he could defeat Makhachev with ease. But the Dagestani champ didn’t stay quiet. He welcomed ‘El Matador’ with open arms. However, there was a condition. Topuria needed to prove himself against Holloway and Movsar Evloev before coming to the lightweight division. 

What are your thoughts on Muhammad’s warnings for Topuria? Do you think moving to the lightweight category is the wise choice for him? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.