A lot of fans are hoping that we will two of the top pound-for-pound fighters collide at UFC 317.
With the heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall still hanging in the balance, there is another major clash that has been spoken about for one of the biggest cards of the year.
Ilia Topuria has targeted the top lightweights since announcing his decision to move up to 155-pounds but the matchup that everyone wants to see is the former featherweight champion vs Islam Makhachev.
Henry Cejudo recently claimed that it will be Khabib Nurmagomedov who draws a line under this matchup because he believes that Topuria needs a win at 155-pounds first.
A recent report suggests that whilst this may be the case, Makhachev’s own preference could also prevent this fight from taking place on June 28 in Las Vegas.
Islam Makhachev reportedly waiting until after UFC 315 to make his next move
Since submitting Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, Islam Makhachev has made it clear that he wants to move up to welterweight to challenge for a second belt.
He has already faced a champion from the weight class below on two separate occasions having beaten Alexander Volkanovski twice in 2023 and he now believes that he deserves the same opportunity.
An issue occurred when at UFC 304 last July, Belal Muhammad, who has trained with Makhachev and his team in the past, defeated Leon Edwards to win the title.
Muhammad was set to defend the belt at UFC 310 until an injury forced him to withdraw meaning that his first title defense will instead come at UFC 315 on May 10.
Whilst fans would much rather see Makhachev take on Topuria, it’s understandable why the dominant lightweight champion would prefer to move to 170-pounds instead.
A recent report from Alvaro Colmenero states that the Russian won’t be making his next move until he sees how Muhammad’s fight with Jack Della Maddalena in Montreal plays out.
Whilst that will allow him to then decide whether it is the right time to move to welterweight, it also means that International Fight Week is likely off the table due to the shortened preparation time that it would give Makhachev.
“Sources told me that Makhachev is planted and will wait until May 10 to see what happens between Muhammad and Della Maddalena to make a decision on his next fight. His participation in International Fight Week is in jeopardy.”
What other fight could headline UFC 317 on International Fight Week?
There have recently been rumors that Alexandre Pantoja will face Kai Kara-France at UFC 317 but the flyweight title fight wouldn’t be a big enough matchup to headline the card.
International Fight Week is always topped by something big and if the two most talked about fights in the UFC right now aren’t viable options, it doesn’t leave a lot of other good choices.
The clear next move would be to book Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title which is another highly anticipated clash between two big personalities.
Otherwise, the UFC might find themselves in a similar position to UFC 300 where they need to scramble something together on relatively short notice but this time around, Alex Pereira won’t be there to save the day.
