"Risk of getting beat on day one" - UFC Hall of Famer issues dire warning about rushing Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria

One of the most compelling match-ups in MMA today is the possible clash between UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and UFC featherweight champ Ilia Topuria. This potential champion vs. champion battle has history written all over it. It's rare for two champions at the peak of their respective primes to meet each other inside the cage.

The UFC has done these types of historic clashes before: Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn. Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez. Even Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski (twice). While it seems simple to have both fighters agree on a bout and sign the dotted line, it's not easy to put together an event of such magnitude.

To UFC Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen, it's not quite the right time for Topuria to challenge for a world title above his weight class. In a segment of Good Guy / Bad Guy on YouTube, Sonnen told fellow Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier:

"Should [Topuria] walk into a No.1 contender's spot or should he walk into a world title fight?... I want to build the idea of Ilia Topuria... I don't want him to have the risk of getting beat on day one. I like the idea of Topuria the champion and I don't know if I'm convinced that he can deal with [Makhachev] right now."

Cormier agreed, adding that since Makhachev will not fight during Ramadan this year, Topuria will have a couple of months to fight someone else before challenging for the 155-pound belt.

The two agreed that former champion Charles Oliveira is the perfect man to face 'El Matador' in the meantime.

Check out the full episode below (14:52):

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Islam Makhachev team on possible Ilia Topuria fight: "He needs to prove that he is a legit lightweight"

Earlier in the aforementioned conversation, Daniel Cormier gave an update on Islam Makhachev's camp's take on the possible champion vs. champion match-up. Having already fought a featherweight champion in Alexander Volkanovski twice in the past, the Dagestani warrior isn't too keen on fighting another "small featherweight" champion.

They did, however, suggest Charles Oliveira first for Topuria first, which both Cormier and Sonnen agreed with later in the conversation.

Cormier said:

"[Islam Makhachev's] manager Rizvan Magomedov said, 'Topuria vs Charles should be a contender fight.' That is latest update. He said '[Topuria] needs to prove he’s legit lightweight. So we don’t have to defeat another small featherweight. We need big fight that make sense for everyone. We already gave chances to the featherweight champ that was reigning for long time.'” [9:04]