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Ilia Topuria targets January return, interested in Dan Ige or Zabit Magomedsharipov

Ilia Topuria is looking to get to the top and that’s why he’s taking high aim at the UFC featherweight rankings.

The rising contender is itching to get a booking in early 2022 and is hoping it’s against a top guy in this division. In an ideal situation, Topuria (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) sees Dan Ige as the “perfect” next step of his career.

The two agreed to fight last month over Twitter, but nothing came close to being done, according to Topuria. The undefeated fighter feels it’s clear Ige is avoiding to fight him.

“He supposedly accepted the fight,” Topuria told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “The fight really made a ton of sense because he was supposed to fight Ryan Hall in March and that got canceled. Ryan had to pull out because he got injured. He lost his last fight (against Chan Sung Jung) and I won my fight against the guy he was originally scheduled to fight.

“I think it makes a ton of sense that our paths should cross. But he wants to avoid me and that’s normal. He has the excuse that he’s within the top 10 of the world, that I’m still climbing and just top 15 in the world. So he has that top-10 excuse, but it’s clear and people know that he’s avoiding me. He doesn’t want to fight with me because he knows what would happen.”

Topuria isn’t too confident the fight with Ige will happen, but sees it as his matchup of choice at 145 pounds. But again, the 24-year-old has aspirations of being champion and there are several other high-profile opponents that can get him there.

“I hear Zabit is looking to return, so I’m starting to push on that end to see if he accepts the challenge, Topuria said. “There’s plenty of options, so we’ll see. I don’t care who I fight. I just want to fight people ahead of me.

“I want it to be a motivation. for me. When I do a training camp, I want to be motivated. I want to do a fight that motivates me, someone I know that when I beat them it will position me up in the rankings. I don’t want to waste my time cutting weight and in a fight that I win and I just stay in the same spot. I rather accept bigger challenges, risk more, but have the reward be bigger. That motivates me, I need that inspiration.”

Topuria is coming off a first-round knockout win over Ryan Hall back in July at UFC 264. He became the first person to defeat Hall and improved his unbeaten record to 11-0.

Topuria wanted to log in a second fight in 2021 by fighting on the Dec. 11 card, but now sees the date as too close.

“I’ll have to fight in January,” Topuria said. “I hope that I soon get something confirmed and hopefully someone finds the balls to fight me. I understand it’s difficult to accept the challenge because I’m a great risk for anyone, but I hope that someone finds the balls to accept a fight with me.”

Check out the Hablemos MMA YouTube channel for Spanish-language videos and interviews with MMA Junkie's Danny Segura.

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