Joe Rogan wants to see Ilia Topuria vs Islam
Makhachev for the 155 title, and Diego Lopes vs Alexander
Volkanovski for the 145 title:“I don’t care if [Ilia] only defended the title one time… who
cares. Let’s go. Let’s f***ing go.”Advertisement
🎥 @joerogan
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— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
February 10, 2025
Joe Rogan doesn’t necessarily want to see Ilia
Topuria defend his featherweight title again before moving up
to lightweight.
Topuria dethroned Alexander
Volkanovski via a vicious knockout at UFC 298 in Februrary
2024. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard then defended his throne by
knocking out Max
Holloway for the first time in his career at UFC 308 in
October. While rising contenders Diego Lopes
and Movsar
Evloev are in queue for title shots, Topuria has since been
teasing a move up to lightweight while citing a lack of fresh
contenders.
Rogan would love to see “El Matador” challenge lightweight champ
Islam
Makhachev. In that scenario, the
UFC color commentator suggests that Volkanovski fight Lopes for
the vacant featherweight title.
“I hope Ilia goes up to [lightweight]. I really do,” Rogan told
Matt
Serra on „The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “Volkanovski [vs.]
Diego
Lopes [at featherweight]. Ilia goes up to ’55, I don’t care if
you only defended the title one time or didn’t. Who cares. [Ilia
vs. Makhachev], let’s go. Let’s f—ing go… Yeah it would be nice,
[if Topuria fights a few more times at featherweight]. But who
cares, let’s go.”
Makhachev is undefeated since his lone career loss against Adriano
Martins in 2015. The Dagestani star is riding a 15-fight
winning streak including five title wins, which has seen him walk
through a who’s who at 155 pounds. While he’s also eyeing a move to
welterweight, the only hurdle is champ Belal
Muhammad, who is close to entire Dagestani brigade.
Meanwhile, Topuria has finished 14 of his 16 career wins —
including eight UFC outings — and has put on dominant displays
throughout his promotional tenure.