Ilia Topuria has said Islam Makhachev was using injury as an excuse to avoid fighting him on the UFC White House card in June. 

Topuria won the vacant Lightweight Championship last year after moving up divisions as the unbeaten Featherweight Champion, inheriting the title vacated by Makhachev as he himself moved up to become the Welterweight Champion, and thus setting up Topuria versus Makhachev as a would-be super fight. 

However, since Topuria and Justin Gaethje was made official for the White House event on June 14, the champion has gone on social media to say Makhachev had come up with another excuse to avoid fighting him. 

“Once again Islam comes up with an excuse,” he wrote. “This time it’s an injury. I always knew I would be a part of the White House event. Even when the UFC told me at one point that they wouldn’t count on me for the event, I knew it was part of the negotiation. When they finally told me I would be on the White House card, they mentioned Islam and I didn’t hesitate for a second to accept the fight.”

Topuria said that he woke up on the day the card was going to be announced, only to find out that Makhachev had gotten injured. That lines up with news emerging on Friday night, as Dana White confirmed that a fight had fallen through at the last minute. 

We both know who chickened out here 😉 you can cover your cowardice with nasty tweets, but don’t worry, one day you will get what you asked for! and your fat ass manager don’t have to ask for billions to fight me, we’ll do it for free. https://t.co/PTCJxG0gTv

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) March 10, 2026

“We both know who chickened out here,” Makhachev wrote in response. “You can cover your cowardice with nasty tweets, but don’t worry, one day you will get what you asked for! And your fat a** manager don’t have to ask for billions to fight me, we’ll do it for free.”

WWE presented its first premium live event on ESPN’s new app, well ahead of schedule, in September with the first-ever Wrestlepalooza. The event didn’t turn out to be as big of a success as both WWE and ESPN presumably wanted, and in the days following, a review of the show, written by an ESPN combat sports reporter, made headlines due to the low grade given to the show overall. According to a new report, WWE objections caused ESPN to drop the letter grades from its show reviews.

According to POST Wrestling, multiple sources said that ESPN put a stop to the letter grades on its reviews of PLEs following objections by WWE. Dave Meltzer first reported that WWE had gotten the grades “killed” in last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer wrote that someone on WWE’s side of the deal confirmed it to him.

While it may seem trivial, POST noted that WWE reportedly influencing the editorial practices of its partner, ESPN, is the bigger issue. Reporter Andreas Hale gave Wrestlepalooza a “C” grade. In October, he gave Crown Jewel a “B.” In Hales’ following reviews of WWE PLEs, a letter grade has been missing from both the individual matches and the overall event itself. POST noted that Hale’s reviews of UFC events continue to use letter grades.

In yet another important note, POST wrote in its report that since Hale’s Wrestlepalooza review, ESPN’s various digital reporters have not published a new story with original comments from WWE talent. There have seemingly been no issues with talent appearing on the broadcast side for ESPN, however.

A source told POST that the move was ESPN’s alone. An official ESPN spokesperson declined to comment on the report, however. WWE also did not respond to a request for comment from the outlet.

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “WWE NXT” on March 10, 2026, coming to you live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida!

With “NXT” Vengeance Day now in the history books, Jacy Jayne of Fatal Influence will be putting the NXT Women’s Championship on the line as she defends against Zaria and Sol Ruca in a Triple Threat Match. Zaria unsuccessfully challenged Jayne for her title during last Tuesday’s episode of “NXT” thanks to the match ending in a no contest due to Ruca’s interference. All three women then came face-to-face at one another at this past Saturday’s Premium Live Event in a verbal confrontation that turned physical and also involved Fatal Influence stablemates Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid.

Myles Borne became the new North American Champion on the February 24 episode edition of “NXT” when he dethroned Ethan Page and fended off the likes of Vanity Project and Ricky Saints with some help from Shiloh Hill, Hank Walker, and Tank Ledger. Saints then challenged Joe Hendry for his NXT Championship at Vengeance Day, and although Page attempted to aid Saints, a miscommunication between the pair led to Hendry retaining his title. Following such events, Hendry and Borne will be joining forces with one another to take on Saints and Page.

Overall, Bully Ray delivered a glowing review of the promo segment, especially as it elicited a rare response from him, a decorated champion and veteran to professional wrestling.

“The Usos and CM Punk did a phenomenal job last night,” Ray said, “and how do I know that? Because as a 30 plus-year veteran of this industry, they made me feel last night. Now, I’m sure you might be saying to yourself, ‘Well, yeah, Bully, don’t a lot of wrestlers make you feel?’ Not that many anymore at all. Not many people can move me emotionally in one way, shape or form. Not many can make me forget that we’re watching sports entertainment.

“Last night I sat in my hotel room watching this segment and I found myself moving forward in my seat, which shows a physical reaction to the things that I’m hearing. I found myself inching up to the edge. And the thought going through my mind were two words: hit him. I wanted Jimmy and Jey to blast CM Punk right in his mouth.”

Eventually, The Usos did strike back, with Jey initially shoving Punk before Jimmy fired off a right hand that sent Punk crashing to the mat. From there, Jimmy held his twin brother back before the situation could escalate any further. 

In less than six weeks, Punk will defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Reigns at WrestleMania 42, emanating from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Punk and Reigns have no shortage of history as they met in the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble as well as a triple threat match at last year’s grand event alongside Seth Rollins. As Punk mentioned on “Raw,” his history with Reigns’ family as a whole extends back even farther.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.