Former Bellator champion Ben Askren believes that Islam Makhachev could be stripped of his UFC championship belt if he refuses to fight Elijah Topuria.
I think Dana White should just do what he usually does and say, "Hey, Islam, if you don't want to fight, we'll strip you of your belt." Dana's done that before, it's in his repertoire. If you're the champion, you have to defend the belt against the best fighter, right? And Elijah has beaten two legends in a row, and not just beaten them, but finished them at featherweight - Volkanovski and Holloway. It's absolutely obvious that he's the best, and now he's moving up to lightweight. Arman Tsarukyan was supposed to get a title shot, but he withdrew from the fight at the last moment, so he has to fight another opponent first. So everything is logical: Elijah is the champion, he is undefeated, he has defeated two legends in a row. I don't see how we can not give him a title shot," Askren said.
