Alexander Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, doesn’t think UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has earned the right to fight for a second belt just yet.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who’s coming off back-to-back knockouts of Volkanovski and Max Holloway, expressed interest in moving up to lightweight to challenge champ Islam Makhachev.
Volkanovski is currently campaigning for a title-fight rematch with Topuria and is even willing to face Diego Lopes for an interim title if he doesn’t get his wish immediately. Volkanovski failed in his bid to become dual champion when he challenged Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 284 but not before defending his featherweight title four times.
“That’s great (Topuria eyeing Makhachev), but you’ve got to have – like with anybody, you’ve got to have at least five or six title defenses before you start looking at doubling up,” Lopez told Submission Radio. “You’re just holding up divisions. When you’ve cleared out a division, then you’ve got the right to jump up a division.
“Until then, you’ve just got to fight the cause in your division, you know? I guess it’s like jumping the queue, and you want to have the title shot before somebody else that’s above you, you know? But it’s just human nature, I guess. Everybody wants that double-champ status because it’s very rare to get.”
Volkanovski pushed Makhachev to the brink in their first lightweight title fight at UFC 284 but fell short. He then defended his featherweight title a fifth time by finishing Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290, which earned him a short-notice opportunity against Makhachev a second time at UFC 294. However, Volkanovski was knocked out in the first round.
Topuria went as far as saying he’d be the first to submit Makhachev. While Lopez thinks it’s a bold claim, he doesn’t fault Topuria for his confidence.
“Islam, he’s very good striking, and he’s got good wrestling, too,” Lopez said. “And he’s the bigger man, so who knows? Look, you can’t take that way from Ilia because what he’s said, he’s been doing. So, he might just be the first guy to do it (submit Makhachev). So, you can’t take that away from him.”
