Topuria reveals White House fight with Makhachev was hours from being announced

Ilia Topuria disclosed that his fight against Islam Makhachev at the White House event was extremely close to being officially announced before it fell through. According to Topuria, he knew just a couple of hours before the full card announcement that he would be fighting Makhachev and that the bout would be revealed. However, he then received a call informing him that Islam had sustained an injury and he would instead fight Justin Gaethje. Topuria went to sleep believing he would face Islam, only to be woken by numerous phone calls about the change. Despite the cancellation, Topuria says he is not disappointed and believes the fight should happen sooner or later.