Ilia Topuria stated that if he moves up to welterweight to fight Islam Makhachev, he will not be stripped of his featherweight title because he plans to continue defending the 155-pound belt. Topuria also expressed disappointment in Paddy Pimblett's performance against Renato Moicano, saying he knew Pimblett was a poor fighter but didn't realize the extent of it. The comments came alongside other news including Jiri Prochazka discussing his recent loss and claiming he was at 40-50% capacity due to injury. Additionally, UFC announced several new fight matchups including a challenging booking for Cory Sandhagen against Kyler Phillips instead of Sean O'Malley.
