Islam Makhachev against Ilia Topuria is the biggest bout in the UFC outside of Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall.
That’s according to hosts of talkSPORT MMA’s Uncaged show Adam Catterall and Brendan Loughnane, who believe fans would be in for a treat if the fight materialises.
Makhachev is the UFC lightweight champion and has the held the belt for three years since he defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October 2022.
He made easy work of Renato Moicano in has last title defence in January after No.1 contender Arman Tsarukyan pulled out of UFC 311’s main event with an injured back on 24 hours’ notice.
MMA fans had their mouths watering following the news that ex-featherweight champion Topuria had vacated his 145 pounds belt to move up ten pounds and challenge for the lightweight title.
This put him in instant contention for a shot at the 155lbs strap following his successful stint as the featherweight king.
Former PFL featherweight champion and $1million winner Loughnane believes ‘El Matador’ should go ‘straight in there’ to challenge for lightweight gold.
“He should be fighting for the title,” he said. “I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t want him to have one [non-title] fight [first].
“I think he should be straight in there with Islam. Give the fans what they want to see. I don’t want to see him fight anyone else. It’s the fight to make.
“I mean, everyone has their own opinions on, ‘Oh, you should have one [fight before Makhachev]’. Why?
“The guy’s an absolute superstar. He’s the main superstar in the UFC right now.
“Slam him in for a title, put it against Islam and give the fans what they want. That’s it.”
Catterall agreed and insisted a bout between Makhachev and Topuria is up there with Jones fighting Aspinall in a huge heavyweight clash.
Jones is the UFC heavyweight champion and is being urged to unify Dana White‘s heaviest division by taking on Briton and interim champion Aspinall.
UFC CEO White said this month that deciding the ‘where and when’ for the bout is the only factor holding up the highly anticipated heavyweight title bout.
“Outside of Jones [vs] Aspinall, I genuinely believe that Islam Makhachev, Ilia Topuria is the biggest fight in the UFC,” Catterall said.
“That star potential of Ilia Topuria and the star potential of Islam Makhachev, I think it’s massive. And that is the fight to make.”
The UFC is currently in the middle of negotiating new broadcasting deals for its events, with major steaming services such as Netflix and Amazon reportedly having shown interest in stealing the exclusive rights.
This means that White may be forced into making the biggest possible fights in 2025 to please shareholders and advertisers, and to get the biggest possible lump sum for the deal.
The promotion are currently exclusively signed with ESPN for television, streaming and pay-per-view.
However, rumours have suggested the UFC are keen to move on, especially after the news that ESPN+ struggled to sell White’s most recent PPV event, UFC 313, to customers due to technical difficulties.
The UFC is currently owned by TKO Group Holdings, who are also the majority shareholder of wrestling’s biggest promotion, the WWE, who have recently signed a broadcasting deal with Netflix.
It has been reported that the UFC are seeking more than $1billion per year in their new broadcast rights deal.
A middleweight title clash between current champion Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev is also on the cards for this year, and would make up a trilogy of extraordinary bouts that would for sure seal the UFC’s target of a $1bn deal.
