Ilia Topuria has made no secret of his desire to move up to challenge undisputed lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, but the Russian’s head coach said those plans are a little premature.
Speaking to CanadaCasino.ca, American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez said that the Spanish-Georgian superstar is making waves, but hasn’t done enough yet to put him in position to move up and challenge Makhachev for the lightweight title.
“Topuria is not quite in Islam’s department just yet,” said Mendez.
“Let Ilia keep clearing his division, and let Islam keep handling his job at lightweight and hopefully down the line there’s a match-up.”
Mendez isn’t turned off by Topuria being vocal in his opinions and his plans, as he helps build the anticipation ahead of a future matchup. But Mendez said he’s happy for Topuria to continue building the fight, as long as the featherweight champion continues to build his resume inside the cage.
“Let Ilia keep chirping, let him do his thing, he’s doing a great job,” he said.
“I like what Ilia’s doing. He’s calling out fighters, not attacking religion or nationality, just the fighters themselves. I’m a fan of his.
“But if we do end up fighting him someday, we’ll look for ways to beat him. But Ilia hasn’t done much more than one title defence. Islam already had two title defences against featherweights, if he had fought another one, what would that do for his legacy?
“If he beats him then they say ‘he was a featherweight.’ I’d rather not. Ilia is not on our horizon. Islam wants to be known for beating people in his own weight class, not just taking on guys moving up. It doesn’t benefit him right now.
“Let the hype build, and if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. But for now, it’s premature, unless the UFC decides otherwise.”
