Ilia Topuria appears to have real trust in his relationship with the UFC brass, and because of that, has the utmost confidence his next fight will be for the lightweight championship.
Topuria (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) will officially vacate the featherweight title in less than two weeks when he Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes battle to become new champ at UFC 314 in Miami on April 12. When that fight begins, Topuria will no longer hold gold at 145 pounds, and his move up to 155 pounds will become official.
Since Topuria announced in February that he was going to be giving up the strap, there has been rampant speculation and discussion about whether he would challenge for the belt right away. Almost everyone in the sport has offered an opinion on whether that's fair or foul, given champ Islam Makhachev has already been criticized for defending against smaller or underprepared opponents during his reign.
Topuria has seemingly decided to put an end to all the noise, because he claims the UFC assured him of a lightweight title fight when discussions about vacating were ongoing. And to this point in his experience dealing with the company, he said there's no reason to hold any doubts.
"The UFC promised me I'd fight for the belt," Topuria told reporters (H/T: Irato Prat) following Saturday's WOW 17 event in Madrid, Spain. "That's why I vacated it. And they've always kept their promise."
Despite Topuria's comments, there is no evidence at this point that his statement is 100 percent accurate. UFC CEO Dana White has said this month that Topuria's next fight has not been decided and it's possible he could fight someone else before challenging for the belt.
Meanwhile, Makhachev hasn't publicly weighed in on the situation, while former champion Charles Oliveira has got into something of a war of words with Topuria over social media and interviews.
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This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ilia Topuria says UFC promised ...
