The former UFC featherweight champion hasn’t had his next move announced since he joined the 155-pound division.
Islam Makhachev’s team recently pushed back against the idea that he will not be competing at International Fight Week due to his current plans.
We don’t know when the lightweight champion will be back in action but both Makhachev and Charles Oliveira have been consistently called out by Ilia Topuria.
‘La Leyenda’ believes that he will fight for the title after moving up a weight class but there is also the narrative that he needs a big win first to really cement himself.
Fight fans got excited about this happening after a banner on the Spanish broadcast of UFC Vegas 105 suggested that it would be Topuria vs Oliveira next.
Ilia Topuria’s coach says he didn’t say the Charles Oliveira mistake but hopes that there’s something to it
Ilia Topuria’s coach Jorge Climent is in a similar position to the fans where he doesn’t know who will be next for his fighter at this time.
He recently spoke in an interview with Submission Radio about the next move that the undefeated star could make before giving his thoughts on the UFC Vegas 105 mistake.
Climent stated that he hadn’t seen or heard about the suspicious banner that came up on screen as he gave his initial reaction to it.
The coach said that this could be a positive for them with pieces starting to fall into place and whilst the lightweight title is their preferred option, squaring off with ‘Do Bronx’ isn’t a bad second place.
“I don’t see it, that’s crazy. Maybe this is a sign, I don’t know. We hope something of this happening one time. We don’t know what is going to happen in the future but we want something like this. The real thing that we want is to fight for the belt but Oliveira fight is a good fight too.”
Climent added that he hasn’t been told anything by the UFC about the matchup with Oliveira but he’s hopeful that this error means things are heading in the right direction.
“Of course, but maybe if it was an accident, maybe it was for something.”
Jorge Climent would be sad to not see Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira
There’s no doubt about it that if the UFC announced a lightweight clash between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira, the fans would be excited.
The one major concern with the matchup is that we don’t know how the former featherweight champion will fare against the best that the 155-pound division has to offer and a loss to Oliveira would leave Topuria in a sticky situation.
It would also stop the Topuria vs Islam Makhachev fight from happening which is one of the most talked about contests in the sport right now.
Jorge Climent told Submission Radio that he’d be disappointed if the matchup never materialized.
“I pray to do this fight. It’s a big fight. I don’t know what Islam’s plan is and what he really wants. I’m going to be sad if this fight doesn’t happen because I think it’s a good fight for Ilia.”
