Islam Makhachev knows a thing or two about winning fights and while it’s never bad to be confident, he wonders if Ilia Topuria’s pre-fight rituals might be a step too far.
Topuria suffered a crushing loss to Justin Gaethje in the UFC White House main event this past June. The defeat cost Topuria his lightweight belt and put the first blemish on his 18-fight career. Heading into the event, Topuria was heavily favored to successfully defend his title and you can count Makhachev among the majority who expected “El Matador” to remain champion.
“Honestly, I’m surprised, because if you ask me, I chose Ilia,” Makhachev told host Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast. “But you know, when you become champion and you lose the focus, it happens. It happens.
“This is a very dangerous sport and I think what happened is Ilia, he just underestimated him because he was thinking he can beat him easy, he can knock him out. He believes his power. But Gaethje is the real dog, he can fight the whole night. What’s happened with Ilia is he spent too much energy trying to knock him out, try to land some hard punch, and he became tired.”
Specifically, Makhachev pointed to Topuria having an elaborate celebration the night before his fight with Gaethje as evidence that maybe Topuria wasn’t fully focused.
Topuria’s bravado wasn’t anything new for him and his pre-fight enthusiasm didn’t stop him from scoring massive knockout wins over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira. But Makhachev wonders if it cost him this time.
“Why I say he lost the focus, how can you make some party, celebrate the victory before the fight?” Makhachev said. “I saw the video, they make some party and they celebrate the victory. How can it be before the fight? I think he just underestimated him.”
“I always did these same things,” Makhachev added. “Make the weight and we just come everybody come to some restaurant or some house and say thank you guys who supported me in this camp, thank you who helped me to cut weight. We always did the same thing, but when you invite all celebrities and make it something and you change your profile already, changed the record. Some things I don’t understand.”
When Johnson suggested that Topuria perhaps utilizes the concept of manifestation to help him achieve his goals, Makhachev responded in jest.
“Manifestation, bro, OK, tomorrow I will be a billionaire and go to sleep,” Makhachev said. “Maybe tomorrow it’s starting.”
Makhachev and Topuria have occasionally exchanged words in interviews, with Topuria chasing a fight when Makhachev held the lightweight title, and both accusing the other of allowing a potential superfight at the White House to fall through.
Still, there’s no bad blood on Makhachev’s side and he’s not ruling out Topuria regaining his championship form.
“Sure, he will be back,” Makhachev said. “He’s still young, he has time. I hope he will come back and show a good performance because I see Ilia is a good fighter. He has good punches, he has good wrestling, good skills on the ground, but if he focus again, maybe he will be champion again, I don’t know.
“But this fight changed his life, but we don’t know which way.”
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