Ilia Topuria Calls Out Dagestani Fighters
On February 13, 2025, then-featherweight champion Ilia Topuria used an appearance on the Full Send Podcast to question how Dagestani fighters handled close, demanding contests. “All the competitive fights, they lose,” he said, adding that he did not think they had special cardio or stamina. The remark was a broad provocation, not a statistical study of fighters from the region. It landed amid a growing public rivalry with Islam Makhachev and debates about wrestling-heavy styles. MMA Junkie’s report traces the comments to the podcast episode.
A provocative claim, not a record book
Topuria’s words were aimed at a recognizable style and its reputation for pressure grappling, but the quote compressed a complicated record into a punchline. A fighter’s home region does not determine how every bout unfolds, and “competitive” can mean a close decision, a back-and-forth striking exchange, or a grappling contest that stays uncertain until late. The headline captures the sharpest line from the interview; it should be read as Topuria’s opinion and a piece of rivalry-building rhetoric, not a proven rule about athletes from Dagestan.
The timing helped the comments travel. Dagestani athletes had become central figures in several divisions, and Makhachev was the reigning lightweight champion. Topuria, meanwhile, was an undefeated titleholder at featherweight and publicly wanted a move up to face Makhachev. That made the criticism personal as well as stylistic: Topuria was challenging the champion’s standing while campaigning for a fight that could test his own ability to handle an elite wrestler.
The competitive-fight argument
There was a recent high-profile result that gave Topuria’s argument a convenient example. At the January 2025 title event, Merab Dvalishvili defeated Umar Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision after five rounds. The decision was competitive, and Nurmagomedov, a Dagestani fighter, lost on the judges’ cards. One bout can illustrate the kind of close contest Topuria had in mind, but it cannot establish his sweeping claim about an entire group of fighters. The promotion’s event results and scorecards are the useful reference point for what happened in that title fight.
Topuria’s own résumé also made the challenge more than a social-media exchange. He had won the featherweight title with a knockout of Alexander Volkanovski and then knocked out former champion Max Holloway. Those victories established him as a dangerous striker, but a proposed matchup with Makhachev would have asked a different question: could Topuria keep his offense working against a champion whose game is built around control, positional pressure and submissions?
The rivalry changed before a fight was made
The two champions never met in the years that followed the podcast comments. Topuria vacated his featherweight title on February 19, 2025 to pursue the vacant lightweight belt. On June 28, he knocked out Charles Oliveira in the first round to win it. The official scorecards and result record the finish at 2:27 of round one.
Makhachev then moved up to welterweight and won that division’s title against Jack Della Maddalena in November 2025, later defending it against Ian Machado Garry in August 2026. Topuria’s lightweight reign also ended: Justin Gaethje defeated him by fourth-round TKO at the June 2026 White House event. The promotion’s current Topuria profile lists the loss, while Makhachev’s official history records his move and title defense.
That later arc changes how the original callout reads. In February 2025, Topuria was trying to draw the lightweight champion into a superfight and used a sweeping line about Dagestani fighters to sharpen the challenge. By 2026, the athletes had pursued different titles and Topuria had lost his belt before the matchup happened. His quote remains a striking snapshot of a rivalry that was discussed loudly but never settled in the cage.
Sources
Tags: Wrestling, Combat Sports
