Daniel Cormier surprised with Ilia Topuria's lightweight move: 'He's not a big guy'

Daniel Cormier questions if Ilia Topuria can really no longer make 145 pounds.

Topuria has decided to vacate his UFC featherweight title for a move up to lightweight. Cormier thinks Topuria, who competed as low as bantamweight early in his career, would be a fairly small lightweight in comparison to some of the top contenders.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) fought once at 155 pounds when he knocked out Jai Herbert in March 2022. His most recent fight came in a knockout of Max Holloway, who has competed at lightweight several times, and plans on making the permanent move up himself.

“He’s a champion through and through, but when I see him, he’s not a big guy,” Cormier said of Topuria on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Sonnen. “I don’t feel like he’s a big guy. So to hear he says he can’t make 145 anymore to me seems a bit odd.

“Because I see (UFC lightweight champion Islam) Makhachev (in the gym). I saw Khabib (Nurmagomedov) as the champ. Hell, I see (Michael) Chandler, and dude, (Charles) Oliveira is massive. These guys are bigger, much bigger, than Ilia Topuria. Do you buy that he just can’t make the weight anymore, or is it I just don’t want to fight the scale at that level?”

Cormier is also surprised that Topuria didn’t hold onto his featherweight title when chasing a second UFC belt. With Topuria relinquishing, Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes will compete for the vacant belt in the UFC 314 headliner April 12 at Kaseya Center from Miami.

“I’m very surprised that he’s vacating right now,” Cormier said. “I’m very surprised because he has the option – you said, you thought it would be for an interim title only because Ilia has the option to let them fight for an interim championship because of the year he just had.

“The win that he got the title from Volk and then the title defense against Max Holloway, he had the option to hold onto the belt, but he’s saying he’s going up because he feels he’s done everything at 145. One title defense doesn’t feel like ‘everything,’ but it’s a weighted conversation because he just beat the two greatest featherweights of all time outside of Jose Aldo.”