Islam Makhachev's coach gives no-holds-barred reaction to Ilia Topuria "cutting the line" in lightweight, predicts how he'd do against Dustin Poirier

Islam Makhachev's coach Javier Mendez recently addressed Ilia Topuria vacating the featherweight title to move up to lightweight and shared his thoughts on 'El Matador' potentially fighting for the 155-pound title next. Mendez also shared his two cents on Topuria's chances against Dustin Poirier in a possible clash.

In a bombshell social media announcement earlier this week, Dana White revealed that Topuria will be competing at lightweight next, with Alexander Volkanovski fighting Diego Lopes for the vacant featherweight title.

Given that Topuria has been calling out Makhachev for several months, many believe a Makhachev-Topuria fight is inevitably up next on both their schedules. In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Mendez addressed concerns over Topuria "cutting the line" for a title shot and said:

"Well, you know, of course he's cutting the line but, hey, if the fans, if that's what they wanna see and that's what the UFC wants to see then that's basically... He is cutting the line but it's not a true sport... If more eyeballs are going to pay attention to Topuria then obviously that's what the UFC's going to want."

When asked if Topuria stood a chance against Poirier in a potential title eliminator, Mendez replied:

"Yeah, I definitely do. I've said it on many occasions, I think he has the best boxing in the whole UFC [across] all the weight divisions... He's got great wrestling. He's mentally strong. He's undefeated. I favor him, slightly, but I favor him."

Catch Javier Mendez's comments below (3:31):

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Islam Makhachev's manager wants Ilia Topuria to fight in a lightweight title eliminator

Islam Makhachev's manager, Rizvan Magomedov, recently shared his take on Ilia Topuria potentially challenging his client for the 155-pound belt and called for the Georgian-Spanish fighter to face Charles Oliveira or Dustin Poirier first.

In an X post, Magomedov dismissed Topuria as "another small featherweight" and recalled Makhachev fighting Alexander Volkanovski twice. He wrote:

"Topuria vs Dustin/Charles contender fight, to prove he's legit lightweight. So we don't have to defeat another 'small featherweight.' We need big fight that make sense for everyone. We already gave chances to featherweight champ that was reigning for long time."