Sean O’Malley thinks a fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria would be the highest display of mixed martial arts.
Makhachev and Topuria have been on a collision course for the past year, but now find themselves as champions in different weight classes. Topuria relinquished his featherweight title, then knocked out Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight belt. Meanwhile, Makhachev vacated his lightweight belt and dominated Jack Della Maddalena Saturday at UFC 322 to capture the welterweight title.
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Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) continued to poke at Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC), and O’Malley expects it to be a tightly contested matchup if it ever happens.
“I’m so curious to see if Islam could do this to Ilia,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “Ilia matches that skill set, and I just feel like it would be a lot closer of a fight than Jack vs. Islam was. That’s the fight they have to make. That’s the fight they should have made this time, but they didn’t. Islam got the job done. I want to see Ilia win his next fight just so we can see Islam vs. Ilia. That would be the biggest, most skillful fight of all time. It would honestly be hard to beat. I don’t see who Islam doesn’t do this to in that division.
“We haven’t really seen Ilia get tested in the grappling. Bryce Mitchell is a very high-level grappler, and Ilia handled that. Ilia would be significanly smaller in height. No matter what (weight) they fight at, he will be 5-(foot)-5. It just is what it is. He’s 5-5 Islam’s 6-foot. They’re going to look different. But Ilia’s skill set is so high. They’re both 10/10 in MMA – rare Jon Jones 10/10. There are a couple of people in MMA who have that skill set who can do everything: strike, wrestle and jiu-jitsu. Both those guys have it. In that sense, maybe size does come in.”
For now, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett are vying for a shot at Topuria. Makhachev has numerous options, but sees Kamaru Usman as his ideal first title defense.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean O’Malley: Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria ‘most skillful fight’
