Khabib Nurmagomedov explains why Islam Makhachev doesn’t want to fight Ilia Topuria

UFC star Islam Makhachev does not want to fight Ilia Topuria — at least, if his friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov is to be believed.

Makhachev is the UFC lightweight champion. He is also the top fighter in the promotion’s hallowed pound-for-pound rankings. That list also includes Topuria, who is a touch lower down the list.

Topuria is not currently a UFC champion, but he was — and he never actually lost his belt. The Spain-based Georgian, who is unbeaten at 16-0, claimed the UFC featherweight belt last year, with a knockout of Alexander Volkanovski. Later in the year, he defended the title with a knockout of Max Holloway.

Volkanovski and Holloway are two of the greatest featherweights ever, so after his wins over the pair, Topuria was really on top of the MMA world. However, he then shocked fans by announcing his plans to move up to lightweight, and leave the featherweight belt behind for good.

That cleared the way for Volkanovski to take on Diego Lopes for the vacant featherweight belt at UFC 314 last weekend in Miami. Volkanovski ended up reclaiming the title with a decision win, but Topuria still hasn’t made his lightweight debut. In fact, we still don’t even know who he’ll fight in his first appearance in the new division.

Makhachev, for one, simply isn’t interested. That’s according to Nurmagomedov.

Why won’t Islam Makhachev fight Ilia Topuria?

Nurmagomedov explained why Makhachev is apprehensive in a recent interview with Russian sports journalist Adam Zubayraev.

According to Nurmagomedov, Makhachev has a pretty simple reason.

“Let’s imagine Topuria moves up and gets a title shot right away and Islam beats him,” Nurmagomedov said. “Then Topuria fights again [at lightweight], he loses again. So basically he was a nobody at 155 [pounds].”

That’s a lot of hypotheticals. It’s also fair concern. Regardless, fans are not likely to have a lot of sympathy for Makhachev. A fight between the Russian and Topuria is one of the biggest the UFC can make right now. It’s certainly the biggest that doesn’t involve Conor McGregor or Jon Jones.

Topuria will probably make his argument for the fight in this high-profile conversation.