After knocking out arguably the two greatest featherweights in UFC history,  Alexander Volkanovski and  Max Holloway ,  Ilia Topuria opted to move up to the lightweight division.  Topuria won the 145-pound title by knocking out Volkanovski in the second round at UFC 298 in February 2024. He defended the title by knocking out Holloway at UFC 308 last October. He relinquished the title to attempt becoming a two-division UFC champion but lightweight titleholder  Islam Makhachev doesn’t think Topuria deserves a 155-pound title fight.  Topuria claims the fight promotion promised him a title bout in his next fight, and “El Matador” will wait as long as it takes to get it.