Islam Makhachev opens as big betting favorite to beat Ilia Topuria after UFC 311 victory
Off the back of his impressive win at UFC 311, Islam Makhachev has opened as a significant betting favorite to land a victory over unbeaten featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria — with the two going closer to a potential super fight between two dominant titleholders.
Makhachev, who headlined UFC 311 over the course of last weekend, managed to land his fourth consecutive lightweight title defense, stopping short-notice replacement, Renato Moicano in a dominant first round D’Arce choke submission win on just a day’s notice.
As for Georgian-Spaniard, Topuria, the unbeaten featherweight kingpin has been sidelined since last October, stopping former champion and current symbolic BMF champion, Max Holloway with a stunning third-round knockout — becoming the first to finish the Hawaiian with strikes in professional mixed martial arts.
Islam Makhachev opens as big betting favorite to beat Ilia Topuria after UFC 311
And offering Makhachev a massive warning following his UFC 311 victory over Moicano, the markets and bookies have placed featherweight best, Topuria as a significant betting underdog at +300 to beat pound-for-pound number one, Makhachev who is a -400 betting favorite, with Lightning Storm casino game offering punters and bettors the chance to win big before a potential fight to boot.
Making light work of Brasilia native, Moicano last weekend at UFC 311, Islam Makhachev was offered a stark warning by unbeaten featherweight titleholder, Topuria — who claimed he could finish Russian kingpin, Islam Makhachev with strikes if they ever meet at the lightweight limit.
“Islam, if I want to, I can finish you,” Ilia Topuria posted on his official X account following Islam Makhachev’s submission win at UFC 311. “If I want to, I can knock you out. I’ll make it look easy. See you soon.”
Himself yet to book a return to action since his stoppage win over Holloway, Topuria has been heavily linked with a featherweight title re-run with common-foe, Alexander Volkanovski — potentially as soon as UFC 314 in a trip to Florida in April of this year.
However, before the turn of the year, Topuria hinted at an impending move to the lightweight division — due to his drastic weight cut to 145lbs, identifying potential showdowns with the likes of Islam Makhachev and Brazilian favorite, former champion, Charles Oliveira.
“Yeah, the real thing, I think, is he (Ilia Topuria) hates to cut weight,” Jorge Climent told Submission Radio. “He does it a lot of times, and it’s very hard every time we do it. He doesn’t want to do this anymore, and that’s why he wants to go up to the next weight class, you know, because he thinks his normal weight is in that weight class.”
“In the beginning, Ilia fighting 61 kilos (bantamweight) and he’s young,” Climent said. “And your body is changing. When you’re 20, you have a body. When you’re 25, you have another. And when you are 30, you have another. Always your muscular production (grows) and your weight is difficult to cut. We decided because he wants to feel better. Sometimes I see Ilia in 85 kilos, and he needs to be 66. We do a very big weight cut.”
