Ilia Topuria has one eye on Justin Gaethje and another on Islam Makhachev, and he is not hiding which fight excites him more in the long run.
Speaking with ESPN ahead of UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, Topuria explained that the Gaethje matchup was not his first preference when the interim title picture was being sorted out. He had expected to face either a victorious Paddy Pimblett or be given the opportunity to jump to welterweight to challenge Makhachev if Gaethje won at UFC 324. The unification bout against Gaethje is what materialized instead, and Topuria is fully locked in. But the Makhachev fight is where his ambitions ultimately point.
“If it would be my choice, I would fight him on this card or by the end of the year. I’m excited, too. I’m a fighter. This is what I do every day of my life, so why not test my skills against someone like him? He is a very skillful fighter, I respect him as a fighter, he dominated the whole division for I don’t know how many years. He fought for the title I don’t know how many times, so what better than to test yourself against someone like him and at the same time everyone’s going to be freaking out. Everyone’s going to be very excited about the fight and I love that, I love people to be excited to go to an event. We’ll see, hopefully it’s going to happen.”
All current signs point to Makhachev’s first welterweight title defense against top contender Ian Machado Garry this summer, though the matchup has yet to be officially announced. If Garry were to score the upset, Topuria’s dream fight would be considerably complicated. He is not treating that as a concern.
“It’s a fight business, everyone has a chance, especially someone like Ian. He’s been able to collect a lot of experience during his run in the UFC and why not? I see him with a lot of chances. And Islam, we already saw him getting knocked out in a fight. Why not for the second time?”
On the broader question of how a Garry win would affect his own plans, Topuria offered the simplest possible answer.
“I’m the type of person that at the end, whatever happens, mindset is like, it’s good for me. Whoever wins, it’s good for me. Everything happens for a reason.”
UFC Freedom 250 takes place June 14 at the White House South Lawn in Washington D.C., streaming on Paramount+.