Ilia Topuria’s next fight booking could be imminent.
The UFC lightweight champion posted a cryptic message to Instagram on Tuesday, teasing “big news is coming soon.” It has been over eight months since Topuria has competed, with the undefeated fighter taking time off to deal with personal matters, including “false allegations of domestic abuse” according to Topuria.
See Topuria’s post below.
It should be noted Topuria does not specify that the news is fight-related.
Topuria (17-0) is arguably the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, having scored featherweight championship wins over legends Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway before vacating that title and making a successful move up to the 155-pound division, where he knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 this past June to claim a second title.
For the sake of speculation, Makhachev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz has teased a “big fight” for his client, though there are no substantial reports yet that point to the UFC setting up a Makhachev-Topuria superfight in the near future. It’s unclear what Abdelaziz is hinting at, as another one of his clients Kamaru Usman has suggested he is out of the running to fight Makhachev, and Abdelaziz specifically shot down rumors that Ian Machado Garry is locked in for a welterweight title shot.
Topuria currently has three prominent lightweight challengers lined up for him: Justin Gaethje, who defeated Paddy Pimblett for an interim belt at UFC 324, and Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, who fight in Saturday’s UFC 326 main event.
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