Islam Makhachev is the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, but that hasn’t stopped allegations that he’s ducking Ilia Topuria.
Ilia Topuria vacated his UFC Featherweight title on the promise of a title match with Islam Makhachev, moving up a weight class to face the champion.
However, that fight has yet to occur, despite Topuria teasing the clash with Makhachev, who seems to think either Arman Tsarukyan or Justin Gaethje are more deserving of the world title match than the former Featherweight Champion.
This has led to Topuria accusing Makhachev of ducking him, a sentiment which is shared by a veteran of the UFC.
Ben Askren thinks Dana White should strip Islam Makhachev of his title
UFC veteran Ben Askren thinks Makhachev is avoiding a fight with Topuria.
He told Daniel Cormier that Dana White should strip the UFC Lightweight champion of his title if he refuses to defend it against El Toro in the Octagon.
“I think Dana should just do Dana stuff and just say, ‘Hey, Islam, if you don’t want to fight, you’re stripped.’ He’s done that. That is in Dana’s repertoire.
“If you’re the champion, you’re supposed to defend the belt against the best person, right? So Ilia has beaten two legends in a row. Not only beat them but finished them.
“Having someone like a tyrant or a dictator at the top, able to force issues, is kind of helpful because it doesn’t take a genius to realize that if Toro is vacating and moving, he’s the second best, and Makhachev is the first best. You make them fight, right?
“And so if number one, Makhachev, doesn’t want to fight, you say, ‘Hey dude, you got to fight.’ And if he says no? Screw off.”
Daniel Cormier doesn’t think Ilia Topuria is the best fight for Makhachev
While Askren thinks Dana White should sanction Makhachev, Cormier thinks there are better options for the champion to defend his belt against than Topuria.
Cormier views a fight against Topuria as effectively a step-down to Featherweight for the champion, seeing it as a repeat of Makhachev’s victory over Volakanovski at UFC 284.
“It was the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world at the time, Volkanovski.
“After he knocked him out, all the talk was about, well, you just knocked out a featherweight. People are still going to say, Well, you just beat a featherweight.”
Makhachev’s next opponent has yet to be announced, so Topuria could well be the next man to challenge him in the UFC.
