Ilia Topuria describes his 'perfect scenario'

Lightweight champion Ilia Topuria headlines the UFC Freedom 250 fight card at the White House on June 14 in a title unification bout against interim champion Justin Gaethje.

Topuria, a two-division UFC titleholder, relinquished his 145-pound championship to move up to the lightweight division chasing a second division UFC belt and a fight against then-champion Islam Makhachev after defending his bantamweight title by knocking out Max Holloway.

Makhahev had the same goal of becoming a two-division UFC champion and vacated the 155-pound title and moved up to the welterweight division. Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to capture the lightweight championship and Makhachev dominated Jack Della Maddalena to add the 170-pound title to his resume.

If everything goes as planned for Topuria, he'll defeat Gaethje on June 14th and then make the move up to the 170-pound weight class.

"My goal as a sportsman is always to achieve great things in the sport. So, what bigger can you achieve as a sportsman than to collect a third belt? So, I would love to defend my belt against Justin and then have the opportunity to move up in the welterweight division and get my third belt. That will be my perfect scenario," Topuria said.

Makhachev is expected to defend his title before summer's end. If he and Topuria are successful in their next fights, it could line up a showdown between the two top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.