Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria recently made an appearance on the Ariel Helwani show, ahead of his showdown with Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 317. In this interview, the Spanish-Georgian phenom would drop the trash-talking facade he usually puts on in pre-fight build-ups to be as sincere as he could about Islam Makhachev’s move to welterweight in a bid to fight for the UFC welterweight title against Jack Della Maddalena.
In which Ilia Topuria believes the reason Makhachev left the division was that he no longer wanted to undergo healthy weight cuts.