Ilia Topuria has his sights set on Islam Makhachev’s 170 lbs belt, and he is already planning another jump in division. But while he looks up, the lightweight pack looks directly at him. Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje are campaigning for a shot, but they may not be alone. There is another contender lining up who could leapfrog them both for the next title fight.

“I believe that Arman [Tsarukyan] versus Ilia [Topuria] is the fight,” Daniel Cormier said in his latest YouTube video. “From the interactions they have, those guys don’t like each other.

“Ilia said he slapped him the other day. Arman said he touched his face, and now he is saying he slapped him. It’s easy to build a fight between these two because it’s going to be very competitive.”

‘DC’ was referring to their backstage encounter at UFC Qatar, which sparked a full-blown online war. Topuria claimed he slapped him. Tsarukyan fired back on X, “Bro, you touched my neck like we were taking a family photo and now you’re calling it a slap online?” and took a shot at his “insecurity” and made a promise to “see you soon, El Pato,” Spanish for ‘The Duck.’ That was a clear shot at the champion.

That’s why Cormier sees the perfect storm that could lead to a great storyline.

And more importantly, he believes the matchup hits the sweet spot every promoter craves: competitiveness with uncertainty because “you feel like there is a chance Arman Tsarukyan can win, but you also know that there’s not a person in the world that Ilia Topuria can’t beat.”

But what about ‘The Baddy’ and ‘The Highlight’?

Pimblett, for his part, has made his case loudly. He insists he is already in Topuria’s head, pointing back to their UFC 317 face-off after ‘El Matador’ knocked out Charles Oliveira. “I’m already in his head,” he told JNMEDIAUK, arguing that their fiery history, from hotel clashes to press conference shoves, makes him the obvious choice. But history isn’t the same as momentum, and Pimblett’s rise, while dramatic, seemingly doesn’t outweigh the UFC’s current matchmaking instincts as laid out by Cormier.

As for Gaethje, his frustration sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, warned that his fighter’s ultimatum isn’t smoke as he stated that the lightweight star “will retire” if he gets skipped by Pimblett.

So, has Topuria been talking to the UFC about his next fight? That’s a valid question, considering the long queue in lightweight to face the champion.

Ilia Topuria admits he has “nothing on the horizon” so far for his next fight

Here’s where things get interesting. For all the noise around his next opponent, Ilia Topuria has recently admitted he is just as confused as the rest of us. He fought only once in 2025, his emphatic knockout of Charles Oliveira to claim the lightweight crown.

In an interview with KOlmenero a day ago, he stated, “I haven’t been told anything about any fights, so I have nothing on the horizon.”

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Why the delay? Rumors of a divorce could be a factor. Or maybe Topuria is simply pushing for fights too big for the promotion to accept quickly. After all, is it really surprising that a man chasing legacy doesn’t want a routine first defense?

As he further shared in the interview, “I can sense things as always, and it also depends on me, right? Whoever wants to fight, in the end, the interests of both sides come into play. We’ll see what happens.”

And those interests? They stretch far beyond a standard lightweight title defense. He says he still has Pimblett on his mind, but only if the UFC refuses to let him leap up a division to face Islam Makhachev. If not, he floated an even wilder idea: a new catchweight championship, a “pound-for-pound” belt created just for him and Makhachev.

So the question becomes: does the UFC follow Daniel Cormier’s logic and strike while the Tsarukyan–Topuria rivalry is red hot? Do they lean into Pimblett’s star power despite the risk? Only time will tell.