Overview
- Makhachev is booked to face welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden.
- He says that if he wins, he wants Topuria next at the UFC’s planned White House event on June 14, a date President Trump has mentioned but for which no bouts are announced.
- Topuria has indicated he would move to 170 pounds to make the matchup, with both fighters widely viewed among the sport’s pound-for-pound elite.
- Makhachev dismissed Paddy Pimblett as a legitimate threat to Topuria and named Arman Tsarukyan or Justin Gaethje as more deserving challengers as the UFC sorts Topuria’s next defense.
- Makhachev relinquished the lightweight belt in May, and Topuria captured it in June by knocking out Charles Oliveira, setting up talk of a cross-division clash.