What's Next For Ilia Topuria?

Ilia Topuria defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 for the vacant lightweight belt, raising question marks over his next steps.

Topuria became a two-weight world champion, adding the belt to his prior featherweight title. The win extended his undefeated UFC record to 8-0, making him one of the best P4P fighters out there. Naturally, the attention has turned towards his next fight.

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Topuria could target the winner of the expected fight between Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena. Topuria moved up to lightweight in the hope of facing Islam, but the latter vacated after Jack beat Belal Muhammad. Should Islam become a two-weight world champion, Ilia is open to moving up to fight for the welterweight belt. 

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Equally, there is the Arman Tsarukyan fight. Arman is the leading contender in the rankings. He was set to face Islam before pulling out of the fight with a back injury. Since then, he has not had a fight. Arman has already beaten Oliveira, having done so at UFC 300. Arman will fancy himself to do the same against Ilia, stating that he wants a title shot.

"It was never supposed to be Charles. I can finish Ilia, simple as that. And he knows it too. That’s why he’s avoiding the real #1 contender," Arman said

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Paddy Pimblett is also another option. The duo have a long history, having exchanged verbals. This was after Pimblett’s controversial comments about Russia’s attack on Georgia. Topuria has stated that he is open to that fight. But in order to make it happen, Ilia wants Paddy to win his next fight. He has called on Paddy to face off against Justin Gaethje, with him taking the winner. And with Paddy having already beaten Michael Chandler, he can beat ranked opponents. The pair faced off after Topuria’s win over Oliveira, setting the narrative for a fight.

"Hopefully, Paddy. Hopefully, he gets one more fight. He wins that fight, of course, and finally, we can be in the same Octagon together. It seemed like a couple of years ago it was impossible to have that fight. You were fighting at 145, and he was at 155. Now, it’s something that can happen. It started with a real London, now it’s real. It’s just a matter of time. I think it’s going to happen. If you ask me, it’s going to happen," Topuria said

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