Ilia Topuria’s manager, Malki Kawa, has shed light on the “El Matador” vs. Islam Makhachev situation and why this superfight, which fans had desired, did not become a part of the UFC White House Card.
This past weekend, rumors surfaced that Topuria had agreed to vacate his lightweight gold to move up and fight welterweight champion and pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev on June 14 at the White House. However, the Russian fighter allegedly declined the offer.
Dana White, meanwhile, stated that a potential Makhachev vs. Topuria bout was never planned for UFC Freedom 250, as the Russian fighter has a hand injury that will keep him on the sidelines.
Ilia Topuria’s manager gives clarity on what really happened behind the scenes and if Islam Makhachev dodged “El Matador”
According to Ilia Topuria’s manager, Malki Kawa, the UFC initially told the 29-year-old that he wouldn’t fight at the White House. However, in the final moments, before the June 14 bout list announcement, the UFC decided to have Justin Gaethje and “El Matador” headline the card in a lightweight title-unification bout.
Kawa has stated that a potential fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria was never a done deal.
Kawa alleges that while Topuria was open to facing both Makhachev and Gaethje, a hand injury, along with financial factors, likely kept Makhachev from becoming the Georgian-Spaniard’s final opponent. On the Anik & Florian Podcast, Kawa said:
It all came together on Friday at midnight… We were told that Ilia was not going to be on the card earlier that week. Then we get a call that says, ‘Hey, if we can make a fight, you can fight Islam or Gaethje.’ We are focused on an Islam fight. So when you hear Dana saying, ‘Well, that was never a fight,’ it’s because what was talked about was that, but there was no agreement to fight anybody. So then Wednesday, we got asked, “Do you guys want to do this or that?” We said absolutely. They gave us a number. We said absolutely not. And then we did not hear anything.”
He added:
Islam is injured. So that fight was not a done deal… We said yes to Islam, and we said yes to Gaethje. It was more about the numbers and the finances.”
Check out Ilia Topuria’s manager’s comments below:
