Manager reveals the reason behind Ilia Topuria's lightweight move, opens up on 155-pound return: "I'm confident that Islam Makhachev will accept it"

Ilia Topuria's manager, Malki Kawa, recently spoke to renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani about his client's recent move to the UFC lightweight division. According to Kawa, the Spaniard's decision to abandon the featherweight division, where he ruled as its champion, was down to longevity.

The weight cut has apparently grown far too draining and was no longer viable in the long-term, especially as Topuria nears his 30s, where most combat sports athletes find it more difficult to cut weight. Thus, a permanent return to lightweight, a division he has competed in before, is only sensible for him, claimed Kawa:

"The truth is that the weight cut is hard for him. Look, when you've been in this business for as long as we've been in it, you kind of learn certain things. And the longevity of fighters, especially at the highest level, when you talk about being a champion, you're talking about a guy who has to fight the Volkanovskis, the Charles, the Islams, the Maxs, you're talking about fighting the best guys in the world."

Kawa also touched on whether his client's next fight will be against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who has been non-committal.

"If you're cutting all that weight, and what you're basically also doing is taking years off your fighting life, and so this guy is looking at longevity. He's looking at the fact that it's almost a 50-pound cut every time. It's time to move up to 155. I'm confident that Islam will accept it. I'm confident that we'll be fighting for that belt, but it's really not on us. It's on them."

Check out Ilia Topuria's manager talking about his lightweight move (1:10):

Topuria's seriousness about competing at lightweight is such that he willingly vacated his featherweight title, which will now be competed over by Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes at UFC 314.

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Ilia Topuria has been aiming to fight Islam Makhachev for some time

Ilia Topuria is a trash-talker, and he does everything in his power to needle his opponents, especially on social media. Following Islam Makhachev's successful lightweight title defense over short-notice replacement Renato Moicano at UFC 311, 'El Matador' took to X/Twitter with a taunt.

"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[see] you soon."

It wasn't the first time Topuria had trash-talked Makhachev. He previously drew a warning from welterweight kingpin Belal Muhammad, who urged the Spaniard not to speak ill of Makhachev given the Dagestani outlook on street fights.