{"id":510062,"date":"2026-02-28T17:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510062\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:00:08","slug":"ilia-topuria-wants-ufc-pound-for-pound-belt-to-set-up-superfight-against-islam-makhachev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510062\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria wants UFC \u2018pound-for-pound\u2019 belt to set up superfight against Islam Makhachev"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ilia Topuria hopes to bring a new type of title to the UFC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2019, Nate Diaz made MMA history, inventing the BMF title after his win over Anthony Pettis at UFC 241. The UFC quickly co-opted the idea, creating an actual belt and awarding it to Jorge Masvidal after he defeated Diaz at UFC 244. Since then, the BMF belt has become a staple of the UFC, and now Topuria wants to create his own title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe perfect scenario for me would be fighting [Islam Makhachev] in the welterweight division, because that way I\u2019m going to be able to collect my third belt,\u201d Topuria said during an <a href=\"https:\/\/kick.com\/adinross\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Adin Ross live stream<\/a>. \u201cBut also, it would be a great scenario for me to fight between 155 and 170 and create a new belt. Why not call it pound-for-pound? Because he\u2019s the No. 1, I\u2019m the No. 2 right now. For me, I\u2019m the No. 1. But you put two of the best guys in the world, you put the pound-for-pound belt in the middle, whoever wins is the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Historically, Dana White has been adamantly opposed to creating a 165-pound weight class, which is close to what Topuria is suggesting here. And the UFC has also seemed cool on the idea of Topuria moving up in weight yet again, after only jumping up to 155 pounds a year ago, so Topuria may have to wait for his dream to come true. But if so, there\u2019s another thing Nate Diaz did that Topuria would like to follow, if he has his druthers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cYou know who I would love to face? Conor,\u201d Topuria said. \u201cI would love to have those exchanges with him. I would love that fight. What, he\u2019s going to shoot for a takedown? No. I wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The first simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history, and the first man to win the featherweight and lightweight titles, McGregor has been a constant point of comparison for Topuria throughout his career. However, McGregor has not competed since shattering his leg at UFC 264 in 2021. McGregor is expected to return to action later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria hopes to bring a new type of title to the UFC. In 2019, Nate Diaz made&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-510062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}