UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev revealed the price tag that Ilia Topuria asked the UFC for to fight him at the White House.
When the UFC Freedom 250 card was originally announced, some fans were disappointed when Makhachev vs. Topuria was not the main event.
After all, these are the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighters, so considering this is arguably the biggest UFC card of all time, it made sense to have one of the biggest fights ever headlining it.
But instead, when the UFC Freedom 250 lineup was announced, Makhachev was not on the card, and Topuria is set to fight Justin Gaethje in a lightweight title unification bout instead.
So, what happened to Makhachev?
Islam Makhachev Says Ilia Topuria Priced Himself Out
Speaking to Russian MMA reporter Adam Zubayraev, Makhachev said that he thought he was going to fight Topuria at the UFC White House card. In fact, the UFC called him and asked him if he wanted the fight, and Makhachev immediately said yes.
But Makhachev claims that Topuria asked the UFC for $20 million to fight him, and after the UFC said no to that number, they instead booked Topuria on his old contract fight Gaethje, and Makhachev was left off the card entirely.
“I got a call in the morning and was offered the fight. I agreed without asking for anything. They offered me the fight themselves, with a higher purse. The next morning, they called back and said that Topuria wanted something like $20 million. He was turned down. That was the end of it, and a couple of hours later, his manager gave an interview, and he said that the money wasn’t enough for them to fight Islam. But for the same money, under their contract, they agreed to fight Gaethje,” Makhachev said.
What Makhachev said seems to line up with everything else we’ve heard. As he noted, Topuria’s manager, Malki Kawa, said they wanted more money to fight Makhachev, though we didn’t know the number. We also know that Gaethje said he got basically a last-minute call to be on the card against Topuria, so again, all of this seems to match up with what has previously been reported.
But in the end, both Topuria and Gaethje are on the card, and Makhachev isn’t. So, despite agreeing to fight at the UFC White House card, Makhachev won’t be getting the chance to do so.
Will Islam Makhachev Fight Ilia Topuria Next?
Makhachev’s next fight has not been announced yet, but he is expected to fight Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in Philadelphia. Speculatively speaking, that fight might be officially announced during the UFC Freedom 250 card.
Should Makhachev defeat Machado Garry, and should Topuria beat Gaethje, that would set up a true superfight between the top two P4P fighters in the world by the end of the year. We’ll see if the UFC books it and if Topuria’s asking price is met, but what a fight it would be if it happened between two living legends of the sport.
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