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Ilia Topuria has made it clear that he wants a shot at reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and now he has one of the most influential voices in MMA backing him—Joe Rogan.
During his Fight Companion podcast for UFC 312, Rogan looked ahead to 2025 and named Topuria vs. Makhachev as the fight he wants to see most. While some argue that Topuria should first establish dominance in his division as the featherweight champion, Rogan sees no reason to delay an exciting showdown at 155 pounds.
“As crazy as it sounds, I hope Ilia goes up to [155 pounds]. I really do,” Rogan said. “[Alexander] Volkanovski-Diego Lopes [at] 145, Ilia goes up to 55. I don’t care if he only defended the title one time or didn’t, who cares? Let’s go. Let’s f*cking go.”
Although Topuria has only defended his title once, his last two victories came against two of the best featherweights in history. He first dethroned Alexander Volkanovski with a knockout finish, then followed up with an equally stunning stoppage of Max Holloway—who had never been knocked out in his career.
While the UFC has been discussing a rematch between Topuria and Volkanovski, Rogan believes the former champion should re-establish himself before getting another title shot.
“If you want to make the big fight for July, is it the Volkanovski rematch? I don’t know,” Rogan said. “Volkanovski, people probably want to see him win one.
“He gets beaten by Islam in the first fight, he gets KO’d by Islam in the second fight … and then he gets KO’d by Ilia. So two KO losses in a row, one decision, even though he’s a legend, you kind of want to see him beat a contender maybe.”
While Rogan isn’t entirely against a Volkanovski rematch, he believes the Australian should be at his best before stepping back into a championship fight.
“I wouldn’t hate a rematch,” Rogan said. “It’s one of those ones where I hope Alex is 100 percent and I want to see it but he shouldn’t have fought him that quickly after getting KO’d by Islam. Three months, four months later, he took a shot.”
With Topuria riding high on momentum and Makhachev looking for a fresh challenge, Rogan’s push for this fight could add further intrigue to an already exciting potential matchup.