Media Ilia Topuria says he won't fight a #1 contender and will wait for a title shot, timestamp is 59:10

[agibmxmma]

UFC is a business. The Ilia vs Islam fight is one of the biggest fights that they can make. The only hold up is Islam.

How is it one of the biggest fights they can make? Illia isn't some champion with a long championship history. Has looked beatable against much weaker competition, etc etc..

 

[Domitian]

How is it one of the biggest fights they can make? Illia isn't some champion with a long championship history. Has looked beatable against much weaker competition, etc etc..

If you knock out Volk and Max back to back, you're a star. If something like that doesn't make a star, almost nothing does.

Vegas is giving Ilia a better chance at beating Islam than literally anybody else in the LW division. Everybody wants to see the fight.

Forget weight classes and championship fights for a moment. This is a money fight.

 

[Thy]

I agree with you that he's annoying, but sadly I do think we will see Islam vs Topuria.

Topuria is simply a bigger draw than Arman or any other contender at 155. It doesn't make sense for Dana White to bench a bigger draw when he can make Islam vs Topuria. And Islam has zero say in this. He's the champion. Either he defends his belt against the challenger chosen by the UFC, or he vacates his belt.

I'm fine with any fights that aren't rematches. If the fight actually happens and doesn't hold up a division for years.

 

[bjjwar]

So we now have Topuria, Gaethje, Arman, and Chucky all sitting around waiting for a titleshot...

Lightweight shills shaking, trying to spin this as the division being so deep it's a stalemate...

They all dont deserve it. Charles got destroyed already by Islam and is riding a frkin 1 fight winning streak vs the biggest bum on earth in Chandler. Gaethje is also riding a 1 fight winning streak against a nobody after getting destroyed by a FW. Arman had his shot and pulled out being sh** scared to fight 1 day before the fight. LW is the weakest it has ever been, not even 1 great fighter as a threat to the champ. They should actually just give it to Topuria who didnt earn it or Paddy who wasnt even in the top 10 and his best win was vs a mediocre washed bum. Thats how bad LW is…

 

[richardjohnson]

Al Iaquinta worthy to fight Khabib for the title
Moicano worthy to fight Islam for the title
5'6 Volk worthy to fight Islam twice

5'8 Topuria - not worthy


WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT???????????????

Intentionally ignoring context just makes you look dumb

 

[Alpha_T83]

If DDP is truly out of the UFC 317 main event, then that's bad for Topuria.

UFC 317 & 318 now need main events. ONLY Pantoja, Islam, and Jon Jones are available for main events. That means the UFC needs Islam to defend his 155 belt in June or July. If Islam doesn't want to fight Topuria, he will happily wait. The UFC cannot afford to wait. So they might have to give into Islam's request to have Arman fight for the title.

 

[Streeter]

How is it one of the biggest fights they can make? Illia isn't some champion with a long championship history. Has looked beatable against much weaker competition, etc etc..

Top has the Aura n hype or whatever you call it . He's the one fans want to see Msk fight .

He dominated a full camp Volk , Dominated Max . Both have fought Eliminator or title fights at lw.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Sorry, misheard him a bit cuz of the accent. Around 58:54 he says "Anyways, if they give me the fight with Charles, it's gonna be a good one."

*Edit*
He also said this super recently

What a f$ggot (a crappy cigarette)

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Also…
Can anyone answer for me why Tops is making ultimatums to get his ass completely throttled ? Seems counter intuitive

 

[JKS]

Can him and make olivera vs islam 2

I like it! Olivera deserves it considering the circumstances