I love Topuria going to LW to fight Islam and that's definitely what's going to happen. There's no way he vacated without a guarantee of a title shot.
I'm never going to complain about a UFC fighter going big game hunting. These guys need to maximize dollars while they're still healthy and can still accomplish big things. I think the days of for instance Adesanya fighting a nonentity like Jared Canonier just because he's there are fading. Topuria doesn't owe FW anything. Plus, from all I've read, his weight cut to FW is brutal.
It's not as if he's not taking risks here. He just lost the comfort of having a championship belt. The easier/safer path is to stay at FW. Islam looks completely untouchable. Topuria could very well get wrestle ****** into oblivion. Makhachev's got the name, he's got the lineage, he's got Saudi money backing him up. The fight will probably be in Riyadh on a massive card. Hopefully vacating the belt allows Topuria to commit fully to 155 which is something I don't think we saw with either Volk fight. I love it. I think it should be applauded.