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Israel Adesanya's coach, Eugene Bareman, gave some interesting insights on the current Islam Makhachev-Ilia Topuria debate. The UFC lightweight division is currently in flux as former UFC featherweight king Topuria decided to drop his belt and move up to 155 pounds. 'El Matador' has his sights set on Makhachev's throne, but the Dagestani champion isn't interested in fighting him.
According to Makhachev and his camp, the UFC lightweight kingpin is not keen on fighting another featherweight champion, having fought and beaten Alexander Volkanovski twice in the past.
In an interview with Submission Radio on YouTube, Bareman was asked if he understood Makhachev's reason. The City Kickboxing head coach said (17:48):
"No, because you're, like, you're a champion and you just fight whoever they put in front of you. Like, doesn't matter if it's a featherweight or a flyweight, you know...The UFC lines them up, you knock them down. That's your job. It doesn't matter what the weight division."
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He added:
"What's the name that everybody want? What's the biggest, like, what's the biggest, by a country mile, out of all those names? What sticks out the most? What do people want to see the most? Yeah, it's [Ilia] Topuria."
Listen to Israel Adesanya's coach, Eugene Bareman, here:
Israel Adesanya's coach doesn't believe Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria II will happen
At UFC 314 last weekend, Israel Adesanya's teammate and Bareman's finest student, Alexander Volkanovski, regained his UFC featherweight title in a five-round unanimous decision win over Diego Lopes. Volkanovski lost his belt to Ilia Topuria last year via knockout.
After defending the UFC featherweight title once, Topuria decided to vacate the belt to challenge for the UFC lightweight throne. With the title up for grabs, Volkanovski took the opportunity to regain the title.
When asked if there's a possibility of Volk ever facing Topuria again if the latter chooses to come back down to 145, Bareman said (15:43):
"I don't think he [Topuria] comes back down. I'm not a big MMA media person, I don't watch a lot, but it seems to me like he's resided in the fact that he's going up and chasing that 155 title. And, man, I think he's entitled to do that."
Israel Adesanya's coach believes Topuria truly deserves a shot at the 155 belt after knocking out two of the greatest featherweight champions of all time, Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
