Ilia Topuria's manager reveals they turned down UFC White House superfight

Ilia Topuria's manager has revealed they turned down a potential clash with Islam Makhachev at the upcoming UFC White House card.

On Saturday Dana White announced the card for the hugely-anticipated UFC Freedom 250 event to be staged on the grounds of the Executive Mansion on 14 June, coinciding with president Donald Trump's 80th birthday.

The headline bout of the landmark event sees Topuria make the first defence of his UFC lightweight title against interim champion Justin Gaethje.

However, that could have very nearly been a champion vs champion showdown against current welterweight king Islam Makhachev, according to Topuria's manager Malki Kawa.

Speaking on the Anik and Florian podcast, the First Round Management chief revealed that discussions had taken place surrounding a potential superfight but that the clash ultimately did not come to fruition due to the finances involved.

"We get a call that says, 'Hey, if we can make a fight you can fight Islam [Makhachev] or Gaethje'" Kawa explained. "And we actually said, 'Let's take Islam.'

"We'd love to fight Islam because remember guys, it's not about picking an opponent because one is harder or easier or scared or not scared.

"Money is involved and the bigger the fight the bigger the fight the more money it is. And so we wanted to make the most amount of money that we possibly could so we focused on getting the Islam fight.

"On Wednesday I got asked, 'Would you want to [Islam] or [Gaethje]?' We said absolutely [Islam]. They gave us a number, and we said, 'Absolutely not.'

After that, we didn’t hear anything. The money that was offered was small — it was more like, ‘If this fight could happen, here are the numbers.’ And we were like, 'Not at those numbers.'"

If the fight had taken place at 170lbs with Makhachev's welterweight title on the line Topuria would have had an opportunity to become the first UFC fighter to hold belts in three different weight classes.

Instead, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will have the chance to do just that when he steps up to heavyweight to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title on the White House card.