Islam Makhachev's manager urges Ilia Topuria to prove lightweight status against Charles Oliveira or Dustin Poirier: "We already gave chances"

Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria may not happen as quickly as anticipated, at least if the UFC lightweight champion's manager is to be believed. Rizvan Magomedov, who represents the Dagestani star, recently took to X/Twitter to dismiss the idea that Topuria will fight for the 155-pound belt next.

Instead, Magomedov urged the Spaniard, who recently vacated his featherweight title, to prove himself at lightweight by defeating one of two notable names. The first option proposed was Charles Oliveira, a former lightweight champion. The second was Dustin Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion.

"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."

Magomedov's argument is a sensible one, as much of the criticism Makhachev has faced as a champion is that he has defended it against former featherweights. Some of his detractors rank him lower than his usual pound-for-pound standing for that very reason.

To curb that, Magomedov hopes for Topuria to first legitimize himself at lightweight. For now, Makhachev is without a compelling challenger at lightweight, as ex-UFC 311 opponent, Arman Tsarukyan, withdrew from the bout with just 24 hours left due to a back injury.

UFC CEO Dana White has been adamant that he will not grant an immediate title shot to Tsarukyan. Meanwhile, Oliveira may still need to score another win after beating Michael Chandler to bounce back from his own split-decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan.

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Ilia Topuria ramped up his callouts of Islam Makhachev after UFC 311

At UFC 311, Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight title against short-notice replacement Renato Moicano, who was previously scheduled to face Beneil Dariush on the same card. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, he was in over his head, losing via first-round submission, which drew Ilia Topuria's attention.

"Islam, if I want to, I can finish you. If I want to, I can knock you out. I'll make it look easy. Se you soon"

The Spaniard's tweet drew initial attention, but the UFC itself has yet to comment on the potentiial matchup. However, now that Topuria has vacated his featherweight belt after recently defending it against Max Holloway, there seems to be just one fight on his mind.