UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has openly spoken about wanting to move up to lightweight. While those plans to be on ice for the moment with ‘El Matador’ having clarified that he would stay at 145lbs for the moment, there is a very good possibility that he will do so sometime in the future.

After all, Topuria’s coach Jorge Climent has spoken about how difficult the champ finds the weight cut to make weight at 145lbs. This would only get worse as he ages. Amid the buzz, legendary former UFC champs Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo believe that Topuria will move up soon and are already discussing his successor.

“I do think that Ilia is going to vacate, though. I do think he’s gonna vacate. If he does vacate, then that means, who’s at 145? Volkanovski, you got Diego Lopes, you’ve got potentially Movsar Evloev the champion there at 145 potentially,” Usman told Cejudo on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

‘Triple C’ had another candidate, a black horse, whom ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ had failed to mention. “Yair Rodriguez could sneak in,” Cejudo interjected. But Usman was unconvinced. “Not over Movsar Evloev,” the welterweight disagreed, before suggesting a dark horse of his own- former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

“I see the front runners as Volkanovski, Evloev, and Aljamain. I think Aljamain beats Yair Rodriguez, I think Aljamain beats Brian Ortega potentially,” Usman added. Now let us take a closer look at Usman’s take and how realistic it is.

Who will fight for the title if Ilia Topuria vacates?

At the moment, Alexander Volkanovski is ranked #2, while exciting newcomer Diego Lopes is ranked #3 in the division. In fact, the latter was the backup fighter for the Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway UFC 308 title clash, which at least Chael Sonnen thinks makes Lopes the next in line for a title shot.

Volkanovski has been waiting for a rematch with Topuria since their UFC 298 clash last year. The Aussie juggernaut will almost definitely be in a title fight for the vacant belt if ‘El Matador’ moves up before fighting him again. The other guy could well be Lopes, at least that is what the fans would want because of the Brazilian’s exciting, all-action-all-the-time fighting style.

But as Usman pointed out, #4 ranked Movsar Evloev, who is undefeated, could also be the next man up and face Volkanovksi for the title. Aljamain Sterling, however, doesn’t seem like a good candidate. The former bantamweight champ is coming off a loss to Evloev and isn’t even in the title picture yet.

He would need at least a couple of wins more to get a title shot, while Lopes, Evloev, and Volkanovski are the clear front-runners. What do you think about Usman’s take on a post-Ilia Topuria featherweight landscape?