Kamaru Usman agrees with Joe Rogan on Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev and drops his prediction: "100%, I support it"

Ilia Topuria was at UFC 312 to corner Aleksandre, his older brother. After his sibling emerged victorious, the featherweight king confirmed his intention to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title in an interview with ESPN MMA.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan discussed the idea during his recent JRE Fight Companion episode with Brendan Schaub, Matt Serra, and Bryan Callen:

"I hope Ilia goes up to 155 [pounds]. I really do. Volkanovski-Diego Lopes at 145 pounds, Ilia goes up to 155. F**k, I don't care if he only defended the title one time or didn't, who cares?"

Check out Rogan's comments below [3:36:26]:

Now, former pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman has endorsed Rogan's take on Ilia Topuria fighting Islam Makhachev during a recent Pound 4 Pound podcast episode:

"I agree. I have to agree with Joe Rogan. I think this, and here's the context behind it. When Ilia Topuria said, 'I'm coming in, and I'm going to stop you Volk,' what did we say? We said, 'Nah, Volk has been tearing through that featherweight division.' And he went out there and did it,"

Usman added that Topuria made his prediction come true again by knocking out Max Holloway, who was coming off a massive victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.

As such, the former welterweight champ said:

"Those are back-to-back former pound-for-pound kings or potential pound-for-pound kings. So, if he wants to move up, 100% I support it. I support it 100%."

Usman acknowledged that the only major fights for Ilia Topuria at featherweight are against Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes.

However, he pointed out that Topuria has already knocked out Volkanovski and believes Lopes needs one more win to become the legitimate title challenger, making Islam Makhachev the best choice for Topuria to fight next.

As for the predictions of a potential Topuria vs. Makhachev, Usman agreed with Henry Cejudo's assessment of the fight, saying:

"Now, do I think he's going to, you just said Islam will beat him. I say, I would lean towards that too, but Ilia Topuria is not the guy that I'm going to bet against. That I'm willing to say, yes, he's definitely going to lose that fight. I can't say that. I can't say that because of the way he shocked us twice already. I just can't."

Check out Usman's comments below [From 20:48]:

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Henry Cejudo endorses Joe Rogan's idea for Ilia Topuria

Lik Kamaru Usman, his co-host of the Pound 4 Pound podcast Henry Cejudo also agreed with Joe Rogan's interest in seeing Ilia Topuria fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title.

Cejudo drew parallels between Topuria's current situation with his double champion journey. 'The Messenger' defeated Demetrious Johnson to become flyweight champion, defended the title against TJ Dillashaw, and moved up to claim the vacant bantamweight title with a knockout over Marlon Moraes.

Even though he likes the idea of Topuria fighting Makhachev, Cejudo believes the latter won't fight the former without earning it. As such, he advised the featherweight champion with a strategy to get the fight, saying:

"If I had my choice, of course, Ilia, fight Islam Makhachev. I think he needs to be more verbal about it. You know, he's been throwing little jabs here and there that he'll stop him, but I think he needs to stop being the nice guy because he doesn't have that nice guy (persona). His aura should be more of that bad boy. I feel like that's where he can really cut that really great promo and get people involved."