Ilia Topuria's manager said that they had agreed to the Islam Makhachev fight until the offer came up too small.Topuria will be fighting on the White House card on June 14 looking to unify his UFC Lightweight Championship against Interim Champion Justin Gaethje. However, he has since come out via social media to indicate a fight with Welterweight Champion Makhachev had been in discussion before he sustained an injury, though he saw that as just an excuse.Speaking on the situation on the Anik & Florian Podcast, Topuria's manager Malki Kawa said that they had initially chased the Makhachev fight because they thought it would mean more money."Then we get a call that says hey if we can make a fight, you can fight Islam or Gaethje. We actually said let's take Islam. We'd love to fight Islam," he said, reasoning, "Money's involved, and the bigger the fight the more money it is. So we wanted to make the most amount of money we possibly could so we were focused on getting the Islam fight."However, when the final offer came in, Kawa said that it was a price they could not agree to."I got asked, 'Would guys want to do this or that?' We said absolutely. They gave us a number. We said absolutely not. And then we didn't hear anything after that. The money that was offered was so small... We're like, 'Not at those numbers.'"Makhachev had also responded to Topuria's initial post to say that he was the one who had ducked the fight, referencing his manager asking for billions and saying he would fight him for free.
