{"id":94209,"date":"2025-08-24T19:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T19:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94209\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T19:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T19:48:10","slug":"islam-makhachev-open-to-superfight-with-ilia-topuria-after-fighting-jack-della-maddalena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94209\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev open to superfight with Ilia Topuria after fighting Jack Della Maddalena"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Islam Makhachev is keeping the dream of many fans alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At the start of 2025, perhaps the biggest fight that could be made in MMA was a superfight between then-featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and then-lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. But after Jack Della Maddalena beat Belal Muhammad to claim the welterweight title, Makhachev vacated the lightweight belt to move up to 170 pounds and chase two-division champ status. Instead, Topuria beat Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight title and fans thought the superfight may be lost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While Makhachev is focused on Della Maddalena and claiming his second UFC belt, he\u2019s not closing the door on the fight fans are so focused on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI can\u2019t say for sure. There\u2019s some intrigue with Topuria,\u201d Makhachev told reporters at a recent press conference (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tknee-jaMYw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ushatayka<\/a>). \u201cI\u2019m also interested in that fight. Maybe it will be possible to make some kind of superfight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Topuria has already suggested he may eventually follow Makhachev up to 170 pounds to chase after the superfight, though he noted he promised the UFC he would stick at 155 pounds for a while first. But that may work out well, as Makhachev is unsure about ever returning to the lightweight division after putting on some weight in advance of his welterweight debut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s always been difficult,\u201d Makhachev said when asked about dropping back down to 155. \u201cNow, I\u2019ll see how much I gain after the fight. If after the fight, in a month my weight is the same, then we can talk about it. If [the weight increases] and it was not easy anyway, I think we will have to sit down with the team to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And as for when Makhachev will compete for the welterweight title? Apparently soon. Rumors have swirled for weeks that he and Della Maddalena will face off in the main event of UFC 322 which is expected to take place in November at Madison Square Garden, and while nothing has yet been made official on that count, Makhachev expects the bout to be announced in the near future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI think all the verbal agreements already exist,\u201d Makhachev said. \u201cWe\u2019re waiting. I think they will announce it soon, in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev is keeping the dream of many fans alive. At the start of 2025, perhaps the biggest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":["post-94209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}