Magomed Zaynukov’s first order of business after winning his anticipated UFC Fight Night 282 debut was to take aim at former lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Zaynukov (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) lived up to the hype on Saturday in Abu Dhabi when he put on a scintillating striking performance en route to a unanimous decision win over fellow octagon newcomer Damian Rzepecki (10-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC).
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Once his hand was raised and Daniel Cormier joined him in the octagon for the post-fight interview, Zaynukov immediately mentioned Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and noted how Rzepecki had spent a portion of his camp with “El Matador” prior to his UFC Freedom 250 title loss to Justin Gaethje.
“Hey Ilia Topuria! I just wanted to make sure to come out here and do my work,” Zaynukov said to Cormier through an interpreter. “He was saying he was from the team of Ilia Topuria. Well guess what? I come from the school of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. We do not care who we fight. We’ll take anyone!”
There was also a post-fight tweet from a fake Zaynukov account on X calling Topuria a “quitter” that picked up some traction, but the account has since been suspended and removed from the social media platform.
The in-cage comments were enough to show Zaynukov’s intentions however, and after Topuria spent several months targeting former 155-pound titleholder Islam Makhachev and pursuing that match, it’s clear there’s some unresolved tension between the two camps.
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Could Zaynukov eventually work his way into position to fight Topuria? It remains to be seen how quickly the promotion will try to escalate him up the rankings after his debut win.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Magomed Zaynukov takes aim at Ilia Topuria after UFC debut win
