Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria? Javier Mendez Details What Needs to Happen First
Appearing as a guest on Submission Radio, Javier Mendez shared his belief that a win over someone like Charles Oliveira would give Ilia Topuria credibility as a lightweight (via MMAJunkie).
“Mendez stated, ‘Charles is not an easy fight for anybody, and I slightly favor Ilia because of his power and his boxing precision. Charles is great. He’s good with everything. He’s coming with the knees, he’s coming with this. So you can never count Charles out. He was a world champion for a reason. He’s a great competitor still, and him and Arman’s fight, he came really close a lot of times to submitting Arman, too. So you can never count him out. That guy is still a world beater, and he could definitely be a title contender again real soon.’”
“Let’s say he does fight Ilia. Then all of a sudden, Charles beats him. Then all of a sudden we have a rematch with Charles, which would be warranted at that point. So let’s see what happens. But him coming up in weight and wanting to stay at lightweight, it’s a good step in the right direction vs. coming up to weight then staying back down at featherweight. That doesn’t really do very much for Islam. So if (Topuria) fights another lightweight at lightweight, that means OK, now people will look at him like he’s a lightweight. He’s a true legit lightweight.”
Mendez has admitted that as it stands now, he has no interest in seeing Makhachev vs. Topuria. If “El Matador” decides to move up and has an impressive showing against a top-ranked lightweight, his mind would likely change.
Makhachev has made it clear that he intends to challenge for the UFC welterweight title. That may be a difficult task if Belal Muhammad remains the welterweight champion by the time Makhachev is ready to move up given the fact that they train together. It could open the door for Topuria to get the mega fight he’s been pushing for.
