Islam Makhachev's teammate wonders whether potential Ilia Topuria fight evokes dark Conor McGregor memories for the Dagestani

Daniel Cormier recently opened up about a potential fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.

Many expected Topuria and Makhachev to throw down in a super fight after 'El Matador' moved to lightweight. Unfortunately, the Dagestani grappling savant's move to welterweight after Jack Della Maddalena's title win over Belal Muhammad threw cold water all over those expectations.

In a recent interview, Makhachev reacted to Topuria overtaking him in the UFC P4P rankings and claimed it was all a marketing strategy designed to build toward an eventual fight between them. Intriguingly, he also made it clear that he was open to fighting Topuria for the P4P king status sometime down the line.

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In a recent episode of the Good Guy/ Bad Guy show with Chael Sonnen, Cormier weighed in on Makhachev expressing a willingness to fight Topuria. He also wondered whether the Dagestani grappler saw similarities between the Georgian-Spanish fighter and Conor McGregor, saying:

"I'm most excited because now he's open to the idea. I was very afraid or concerned that he just didn't want to fight the guy. I just don't know if Topuria doesn't remind him too much of McGregor. I think that whole camp, and I'm not just talking about Islam and Khabib [Nurmagomedov], I'm talking about all of us."

He continued:

"We were all so wrapped up and worked up about Khabib fighting Conor, and we were all so mad about the way he talked about his dad and the way he talked about his religion... I don't know if Ilia looks or feels like that... That was a dark place, man."

Catch Daniel Cormier's comments below (29:53):

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Chael Sonnen explains Islam Makhachev losing P4P throne to Ilia Topuria

Chael Sonnen recently shared his two cents on Ilia Topuria replacing Islam Makhachev as the UFC P4P king and explained why it made sense. He pointed out that Topuria was an active titleholder, unlike Makhachev, and should have a claim over three belts.

In a YouTube video, Sonnen discussed Topuria pipping Makhachev in the P4P rankings and said:

"How do you take a sitting world champion and tell us that he is behind a guy that doesn't have a belt?... Nothing more than clerical, has stopped Ilia Topuria from right this moment from being your 145 champion, being your 155 champion, and being your reigning BMF champion. Ilia Topuria should be standing with three belts. Which is one more than anybody else has."

He continued:

"Islam is the king of the division according to the rankings, Jack [Della Maddalena] is... How could you reasonably argue that in front of the sitting reigning world champion, that? The belt means something or it doesn't."

Catch Chael Sonnen's comments below (7:38):

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Edited by Nishant Zende.