Islam Makhachev left the majority of his MMA peers singing his praises after yet another history-making win Saturday night at UFC 322. Ilia Topuria was not among them.
Makhachev became just the 11th UFC fighter ever to capture belts in two divisions with a dominant win over now-former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena in UFC 322’s main event. In true vintage Makhachev fashion, he made it look easy — the native Dagestani out-landed Della Maddalena 140 to 30 in total strikes and secured an absurd 19:10 of control time across the 25-minute bout. In doing so, Makhachev also moved into a tie with Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in UFC history (16).
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Yet the performance did not appear to move UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who vacated his own featherweight title earlier this year in order to pursue a Makhachev superfight that did not happen.
Said Topuria on social media following Makhachev’s win:
Jack needs an entire camp dedicated just to wrestling. What a disappointment of a champion. You should go to Georgia to learn something. Islam, you need something you can’t train: emotion. You’re the most boring thing in this game. Every day I’m more certain I put you to sleep.
Makhachev vs. Topuria remains one of the biggest potential fights available in the sport today, though if Makhachev elects to stay at 170 pounds, it may be a weight jump too large for Topuria to make.
Check out how the rest of Makhachev’s UFC peers reacted to his dominance of Della Maddalena. (Spoiler alert: They were much more complimentary than the lightweight champ.)
