Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria targeted for one of the UFC's premier annual PPV cards, per Ariel Helwani: "It would be gigantic" 

According to a report by Ariel Helwani, it appears as though a super fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria could be targeted to headline one of the UFC's premier annual pay-per-view cards. The prominent MMA journalist outlined a potential timeline, which could be much sooner than fans think.

The MMA community was buzzing after UFC CEO Dana White announced that 'El Matador' would be vacating his featherweight championship and making a permanent move to 155 pounds. As a result, Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes will be fighting for the vacant featherweight title, while Topuria moves on to his new weight class.

In a video that was recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Helwani highlighted the magnitude of a lightweight title clash between 'El Matador' and the Dagestani. He mentioned that Makhachev vs. Topuria could be headlining International Fight Week, which has been a premier annual pay-per-view card for the UFC:

"All signs from what I am hearing seem to point to an Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev fight perhaps as soon as International Fight Week. And if you ask me, that is International Fight Week worthy. That is a mammoth, mammoth fight, that's a massive fight. And the kind of spark, the kind of big time fight that the UFC seems to have been searching for over the last couple of months. It would be gigantic but it's not done, it is not signed." [1:29]

Check out the full video featuring Ariel Helwani's comments below:

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Ariel Helwani explains how Ilia Topuria vacating his title signify super fight against Islam Makhachev is next

In addition to reporting Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria is being targeted for International Fight Week, Ariel Helwani explained how 'El Matador' vacating his featherweight title signifies a bout with the Dagestani is next.

During the aforementioned video, Helwani mentioned that Topuria vacated his title due to weight-cutting issues and could have had assurances that he would be challenging Makhachev next if he did so:

"[Topuria] ain't vacating the [featherweight] title just to vacate the title. What I'm hearing is it's a weight cutting issue. 145 [pounds] is just getting to be a little too much, he wants to go up to 155 [pounds], feels like he's done everything that he can do...so he's going for the big dog [Makhachev] at 155 [pounds] and that is Georgia vs. Russia, that's a gigantic fight." [2:02]

Check out Ilia Topuria's post following Islam Makhachev's latest win below: