Former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria vacated the 145-pound championship to move up to the lightweight division and challenged for a second divisional UFC title. He’ll get that opportunity at UFC 317 but he’s not getting to fight who he wanted. Topuria wanted to face the top pound-for-pound fighter Islam Makhachev but Makhachev relinquished the lightweight title to move up to the welterweight division for the same reasons Topuria changed weight classes. Topuria considers Makhachev a ‘hypocrite’ and believes the Dagestan fighter ran from a fight. “(Islam) is the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen,” Topuria recently said in a press conference (h/t Marca, Championship Rounds ).
Originally posted here:
Ilia Topuria blasts ‘hypocrite’ Islam Makhachev – MMA Weekly