Michael Chandler calls out Ilia Topuria for 'lying about his weight': "I’ve stood next to the man"

Ilia Topuria vacated the UFC featherweight title, and one of the key reasons behind the move was due to a big weight cut. Interestingly, lightweight contender Michael Chandler doesn't think the claim makes sense.

Topuria and his team have highlighted that he used to cut down from around 190 pounds to make the featherweight limit. Chandler questioned the claim, stating he had seen the undefeated phenom up close.

'Iron' shared his thoughts about the matter in an exclusive interview with Covers. Despite calling out Topuria, the former Bellator champion admitted that 'El Matador' would be a welcome addition at lightweight.

“I think he’s lying about the weight a little bit. I don’t think he weighs 190 pounds. I’ve seen the man, I’ve stood next to the man, we’ve had conversations. With that being said, yeah, I think it would be cool for him to come in and fight somebody inside the top five to get the title shot,” Chandler said.

As for how Topuria matches up against the lightweight, Chandler pointed out that there is a huge power difference. 'Iron' also mentioned Topuria's fight against Jai Herbert at lightweight, which saw 'El Matador' dig deep to win via knockout after a head kick knockdown.

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Michael Chandler explains how Islam Makhachev would beat Ilia Topuria in a potential fight

After leaving the featherweight division, Ilia Topuria has expressed his interest in a potential fight against Islam Makhachev, the lightweight kingpin, who is also the pound-for-pound best in the UFC. Having defended the lightweight title twice against a featherweight (Alexander Volkanovski), Makhachev has been against the idea of fighting Topuria next.

Before Dana White made the news of Topuria leaving the featherweight division official, Michael Chandler shared his thoughts about a potential fight between 'El Matador' and Islam Makhachev during an interview with Tim Welch.

"I didn't think he was gonna knock Max Holloway out, and he did. So, I think he could catch Islam, but if that fight goes anything past 15 minutes, I think Islam beats him handily, just because Islam is a large, large 155, and I don't think Ilia is that big for 145," Chandler said.

Chadler also explained that Topuria's fighting style is the antithesis of his own style. He pointed out that 'El Matador' is always in the thick of things in the fight but stays calm and collected to land a knockout blow.

Check out Michael Chandler's comments about Ilia Topuria below (32:07):