After Ilia Topuria’s (16-0) victory against Hawaiian Max Holloway, who for many fans on the other side of the pond was a clear favorite, the Spanish-Georgian champion expressed his intention to stop for a few weeks, clear his mind, focus in his family, enjoy the honeys of his first defense of the UFC featherweight world title. “Now I don’t think about what’s next for me,” he responded to ABC MMA after beating Holloway on October 26.
It was logical that he did not want to get wet regarding his competitive horizon, and even that he was only thinking about celebrating with his team, but Topuria He had several dance partnersespecially one in a clear way, as he ‘invaded’ the octagon, becoming established as the next contender for a title that he held for a long time. We are talking about Alexander Volkanovski, who according to the natural dynamics of featherweight should be Topuria’s next opponent.
However, El Matador likes to fuel public debate, and with his usual expertise in moving the ‘needle’ of interactions, he has launched an enigmatic message on social networks so that mixed martial arts fans are the ones who get wet. regarding who his next rival should be. “Topuria vs ?”, he wrote in a publication that has already exceeded 3 million impacts on ‘X’ -former Twitter-.
The responses have not been long in coming and, among the more than 6,000 comments, very accurate conclusions have been reached. As a summary, there are three very clear names on the horizon, to which we will add three more as hypothetical possibilities, some of them very distant. As we have mentioned before, the natural dynamic of the UFC and its boss, Dana White, pushes us to think that the idea is for Topuria to continue adding defenses of his featherweight title, so Alexander Volkanovski clearly takes the lead and should be his next opponent, which would mean a revenge of the Spanish champion’s victory in February in Anaheim.
Another option within the division is that of the Brazilian Diego Lopes, who after breaking out in a meteoric way, was even a replacement fighter in Abu Dhabi in the Ilia Topuria against Max Holloway, in case one of them had been injured. That didn’t happen, but Lopes is a name to keep an eye on on the list of contenders and, if there was any chance, he could end up being Topuria’s opponent for the belt.
The biggest alternative, the fight that Topuria wants and the UFC might think, is to pit the featherweight champion against the lightweight champion. It is the fight that both Topuria and his team want. In that case he would face Islam Makhachev, now positioned as number one in the world pound for pound, although for that to happen, he will first have to beat Arman Tsarukyan in January when he puts his belt on the line. At a legacy level, it would be the most interesting option for Topuria, since he would not risk his title and could unseat the most dominant fighter today.
Three other fights that are being considered, but more utopian, would be three possible confrontations also at lightweight. A fight against Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier or Conor McGregor would be fights with a lot of legacy and great numbers for the Spanish-Georgian champion, especially against the Irishman, something that seems impossible at the moment. To finish off, two other last options that would appear in the pen would be Aljamain Sterling, former champion of the bantamweight, and the Russian Movsar Evloev.
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