"Send belt 2-3 years Dagestan and forget" - Fans react as Ilia Topuria throws his UFC belt a birthday party on first anniversary of him becoming champ

MMA enthusiasts voiced their opinions after watching Ilia Topuria celebrate the anniversary of his first UFC championship victory in an interesting way.

Topuria claimed the featherweight gold at UFC 298 with a second-round TKO victory over Alexander Volkanovski. The Honda Center in Anaheim, California, played host to the coveted event on the night of February 17, 2024.

The year's second UFC pay-per-view event proved to be momentous for Topuria, who entered the octagon as a contender and emerged as the featherweight champion. Topuria later successfully defended his title at UFC 308, defeating former featherweight champion Max Holloway on October 26.

A recent Instagram post from @happypunch showed Topuria celebrating the first anniversary of his UFC featherweight championship win with an intimate birthday party for his title belt.

However, several fans' comments on this post referenced Topuria's potential rival, Islam Makhachev, and his homeland, Dagestan. Some of these reactions read:

"W. Send belt 2-3 years Dagestan and forget."

"Enjoy it while u have it ain’t gonna last long, Islam [is] gonna get it."

"Islam gonna choke him... Bye bye Ilia."

"He loses his 0 this year."

Check out some more reactions:

Fan reactions to @happypunch's Instagram post. [Image Courtesy: @happypunch on Instagram]

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Ilia Topuria accused Islam Makhachev of being scared to fight him

Ilia Topuria recently clarified that he was the opponent Dana White offered to Islam Makhachev when he hinted that a special fight was in the works for the current lightweight champion. However, he accused Makhachev of stalling the negotiation process for the bout.

According to another Instagram post by @champ.rds, Topuria mocked Makhachev, claiming that the Dagestani fighter was afraid to face him. 'El Matador' stated:

"He's [Islam Makhachev] 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]."