Ilia Topuria is risking a “street fight” with Islam Makhachev and his team over steroid allegations, the UFC champion warns

This led to a heated argument with several of the Russian's teammates and even prompted UFC champion Belal Muhammad to warn that “El Matador” was at risk of getting into a street fight with the Dagestanis.

Ilia Topuria accuses Nurmagomedov of using PEDs after Makhachev's statement

Earlier this week, Ilia Topuria teased in an Instagram live stream that he would be willing to fight Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title because if they fought on the street he would have to pay his medical bills.

While Makhachev didn't respond directly, undefeated bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov disputed the call, asking: “When have you ever fought on the streets, European boy?”

This is where the story took a particularly serious turn when Ilia Topuria claimed that the expected next bantamweight title challenger in the UFC had been fighting performance-enhancing drugs.

“To be honest, it’s been a long time. How are you doing with drugs? “Are you still taking steroids?” Topuria asked. The UFC Anti-Doping Database reported that Nurmagomedov was tested four times in 2024, the same number as “El Matador.”

Understandably, such serious allegations would not go down well with other members of the Nurmagomedov-Makhachev team, and Tagir Ulanbekov, a 15-2 flyweight champion, issued a stern warning to the featherweight champion.

“Ilia, I advise you to put your dividends aside and find a good dentist [as] Your dental structure will be affected from the first meeting.”

17-4-1 welterweight Abubakar Nurmagomedov also weighed in on the debate, writing: “Iliya Topuria, why do you need all this? Fly to me, let us rest on the shores of the Indian Ocean.”

But the most ominous warning of all came from current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, who clearly stated that Topuria was playing with fire.

UFC champion warns Ilia Topuria he faces a “street fight” against Makhachev

“Be careful what you wish for,” Muhammad warned in a recent interview with Helen Yee. The 170-pound champion explained that one group of athletes you don't want to incite into a street fight is Team Makhachev-Nurmagomedov.

“If you're Ilia, you have a lot of people in your division that you still have to fight, and Ilia is at the point where you're undefeated and getting a lot of hype, so now you're starting to complain [champions] and play the game where you try to be next [Conor] McGregor.

“But you don’t want to mess with Islam because like they said, it’s different there – if you want to fight in the streets, they’ll fight you in the streets.”

As the UFC welterweight champion pointed out, “Islam doesn't care about 'Oh, let's get paid for this.'” [because] If he sees that you don’t respect him, he will show you from Dagestan what disrespect means.”

Luckily, it won't be long before we see Ilia Topuria return to the octagon, as the featherweight title is on the line in the main event of UFC 308 against fan favorite Max Holloway – scheduled for October 26th in Abu Dhabi.

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