Islam Makhachev’s coach goes ballistic over Ilia Topuria’s bold claims, names the only person to have ever “dominated” the lightweight kingpin

Javier Mendez shared his thoughts on Ilia Topuria's claim that he could be the first fighter to submit UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who is widely regarded as one of the best grapplers in the sport.

Topuria, the reigning featherweight champion, is considering a move to lightweight following back-to-back knockout victories over legendary fighters Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Despite Topuria's confidence in his ability to submit Makhachev in a potential super fight, Mendez disagrees with his assessment.

In a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Makhachev's coach addressed Topuria's bold claims:

"The way they talk he [Topuria] dominates everybody at his gym over there, it's okay. That's fine because I made a comment that, 'You come to Dagestan and you do that over there and then you got my attention.'"

Mendez pointed out that the Nurmgaomedov camp is home to some of the world's most elite fighters. Notably, fighters representing the camp currently hold the lightweight titles in the three biggest US-based MMA promotions—UFC, PFL, and Bellator.

Putting the level of Makhachev's grappling prowess into perspective, Mendez named the only fighter that got the better of him on the ground:

"On the ground, I never seen Islam get dominated by anybody other than Khabib. But that's it. Nobody else has ever dominated Islam on the ground."

Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (31:36):

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Amid Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria talks, Javier Mendez says he is not looking past Arman Tsarukyan

The MMA community is buzzing about a potential matchup between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, but Javier Mendez believes that the team should be focused on Makhachev's next opponent, Arman Tsarukyan.

In the aforementioned interview with Submission Radio, Mendez acknowledged that Topuria could pose a considerable threat in the lightweight division. However, he warned against overlooking Tsarukyan, stating:

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves and think that Arman's going to be that easy. No, he's not. Arman's a task. We have to focus on him in order to make it easy. If we don't focus on making it easy, it won't be easy." [10:00]

Tsarukyan lost to Makhachev by unanimous decision during his UFC debut in 2019. He will challenge the Dagestani fighter for the lightweight title in the UFC 311 main event on Jan. 18, 2025.