If you had to choose between Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev, who would you pick? One is creating his own legacy vacating the featherweight title to move up to the lightweight division with his concussive KO power in his arsenal. While the other also dreams of a double championship and surpassing his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s legacy. Amid the chaos and speculation over who would win between Team Georgia and Team Dagestan, many ideas are coming in from veteran UFC fighters.
We know that Team Khabib’s reign is as strong as the icy mountains of Dagestan, but Merab Dvalishvili and Topuria are proving that Georgia is not far behind. ‘The Machine’ defeated Khabib’s cousin Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 to defend and keep his 135lbs belt. On the other hand, ‘El Matador’ added another win to his undefeated record by slaying Max Holloway last year. So this time, will Georgian wrestling be the Achilles’ heel of Dagestani wrestling?
Well, former 185lbs champ Robert Whittaker have a lot to say about the same. While speaking on MMArcade, the Aussie ace praised Topuria and said: “He is but Ilia, I feel like Ilia, like people know he is good but I don’t think they know how good he is. You know what I mean I feel like these people still don’t realize, technically he is so far above the game in terms of jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and pocket fighting.”
Jonny Roses, the host of MMArcade, chimed in saying, “I know he’s been staring people, but everyone just thinks like, he is a boxer he’s not like he is very good at jujitsu. And we have seen recently, Merab, you know Georgian wrestling seems to be the Achilles heel of the Dagestani wrestling. You know what I mean!”
‘The Reaper’ agreed to the same and expressed his wishes to see this matchup between Makhachev and Topuria. He added the reason, saying, “Cause I think that’s a fight that will put him on the map. Like a proper he will take everything that Islam has. He is already on the map.”
And it seems that not just Whittaker but even the reigning bantamweight champion had a few words about the same. Let’s see what he had to say!
MMA giants weighs in on a potential Topuria vs. Makhachev bout
Coming to his Instagram, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili posted a meme related to the classic “He’s probably thinking about other women” joke, emphasizing his excitement to witness the potential fight between his friend, and the teammate of his former foe, Islam Makhachev. ‘The Machine; captioned the post saying: “My Life .. LOL.”
Clearly, Dvalishvili is eagerly anticipating this matchup! As for Makhachev, he doesn’t find the potential fight against Topuria as appealing since owing to his reservations of fighting yet another 145fer. However, MMA analyst Luke Thomas believes Makhachev might eventually have to face the Georgian Spaniard before thinking about moving up to the welterweight division:
“Either way, Islam just doesn’t have great choices, right? I mean, he’s the number one pound-for-pound guy in the sport. He’s the UFC lightweight champion. But if Shavkat, well, first of all, Belal is going to fight JDM. I suppose he could go up and fight JDM. I don’t know how the UFC would feel about that. That seems like a maybe, but it’s just a ‘I don’t know, maybe.”
For the unversed, Thomas disagrees with the official pound for pound rankings which places Jon Jones at #2 and the Spaniard-Georgian at #4. The MMA analyst believes that Topuria is right behind the #1 P4P Dagestani kingping and a potential fight will decide who’s the top dog! So what are your thoughts on this potential matchup? Will Ilia Topuria get his shot at 155lbs gold in 2025? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The post “He Will Take Everything Islam Has” – Robert Whittaker Spells Serious Trouble For Islam Makhachev in Confession on Ilia Topuria appeared first on EssentiallySports.
