Topuria and Makhachev dispute who rejected White House event fight

Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev have offered conflicting accounts about why their proposed White House event bout fell apart. Topuria claimed he went to bed knowing the fight was confirmed, only to be told hours before the announcement that Makhachev suffered an injury and he would face Justin Gaethje instead. Topuria expressed confusion about why Makhachev doesn't want to fight him. In response, Makhachev stated he accepted the fight when offered, but was told the next day that Topuria demanded an enormous purse and was therefore denied. Makhachev accused Topuria and his team of lying, noting that even Topuria's manager confirmed the financial issue. In an interesting detail, when a fan commented on Makhachev's 4 AM post, he replied that it wasn't Ali Abdelaziz managing his account at that time.