Ilia Topuria says that regardless of what his next move is, it won’t involve vacating the UFC featherweight title.

The Georgian-Spaniard, who the 145-pound title earlier this year with a knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski before defending it in late October, has indicated a strong desire to move to 155-pounds in pursuit of a title bout with champion Islam Makhachev — a move which, it was speculated, might involve him relinquishing his own world title.

In a post to social media late on Thursday, Topuria explained that any potential move up a division has yet to be decided and that formal discussions have not yet been held with the UFC. To note, UFC brass — and in particular Dana White — are often hesitant to allow the organisation’s champions to fight outside of their division.

“I will not leave the title vacant,” wrote Topuria on the social platform previously known as Twitter.

“The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven’t had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere. I have conquered my division and I will do the same in the next one.”

But while Topuria has mooted the idea of fighting Charles Oliveira to establish his credentials at 155-pounds, it leaves a degree of uncertainty at featherweight with the likes of Volkanovksi, Diego Lopes and the unbeaten Mosvar Evloev jockeying for position to be the next title challenger.