"Of course he's afraid" - Ilia Topuria accuses Islam Makhachev of dodging their "exciting" fight

Ilia Topuria recently alleged that Islam Makhachev ducked the offer to fight him.

Topuria has been on a quest to lock horns with Makhachev since the latter part of 2024. The Spaniard initially expressed his desire to fight the lightweight champ during the buildup to his first featherweight title defense against Max Holloway at UFC 308. Furthermore, Topuria also specified that he wanted to fight Makhachev inside the octagon instead of the streets.

'El Matador's' words got him into a feud with the Khabib Nurmagomedov-led Dagestani camp of fighters. Both parties have fired several shots at each other since then:

Dana White's recent revelation about negotiating a special fight for Makhachev sparked speculation in the MMA community that Topuria could be the mystery opponent. But things became clearer when Topuria revealed that a fight against Makhachev was in the "works" during his recent appearance on the FULL SEND PODCAST.

However, an Instagram post from @champ.rds showcased Topuria accusing Makhachev of delaying the negotiations related to this fight. 'El Matador' also accused Makhachev of being "afraid" to accept the offer to fight him. The English translation of his Spanish comments read:

"[Islam Makhachev's] afraid. Of course, he is afraid. It was an easy fight until they put his name on the contract. [But] we all know if it was that easy and if I’m ‘small’ as he says, he would’ve shared the octagon with me. There’s a reason he doesn’t want to. I understand [that]. So, it’s ok, [he can] go up [to welterweight]."

Topuria also opined that an encounter against Makhachev would be an "exciting" one for fans.

"[But] if he were to stay [stays at lightweight] and fights me, it would obviously be an exciting fight for the whole public."

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Ilia Topuria reveals what needs to be done to defeat the Dagestani camp of fighters

Ilia Topuria recently disclosed an effective method to tackle the in-octagon dominance of the Khabib Nurmagomedov-led Dagestani camp fighters. The 28-year-old described his observations about how they fail to close encounters.

Topuria decoded a common factor in Nurmagomedov's fighters in his aforementioned appearance on the FULL SEND PODCAST. He said:

"If you see fighting any of them [see any of the Team Khabib fighter’s fights], the thing that they need when they get into that octagon [is that] in the first contact they want to feel that they dominate you. And they start to build confidence since that [from there]... But if they feel in the first contact that it’s very competitive, their head goes down… All the competitive fights, they lose."