The head coach of UFC Welterweight Champion, Jack Della Maddalena, doesn’t think it would be wise for Ilia Topuria to try his hand at 170 pounds.

Topuria was the UFC Featherweight Champion before he moved up a weight class to fight for lightweight gold. “El Matador” ended up capturing the 155-pound title by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 back in June. There are some worthy challengers in the lightweight division, but if Topuria clears him then talks will likely surface of a possible move to welterweight.

Ben Vickers, the coach of Maddalena, appeared on Submission Radio and explained why Topuria would be making a mistake if he moves up a division (h/t MMAJunkie).

“He’s my height, and I’m a midget,” Vickers said. “He needs to stay where he is. It will be a very bad decision for him to come up and fight Jack. They’re the same fighter, essentially – he’s just a midget and Jack’s a bit bigger. They do a lot of the same things very well, and I love Ilia. He’s one of my favorite fighters to watch because I think he fights like Jack.

“They’re very similar, but I don’t think he has any business jumping up two weight classes and fighting Jack. But that’s up to him. If he wants to do that, fair play to him. I respect it, and I think Ilia is going to be at a point like Islam soon where he can do whatever he wants because he’s unstoppable.”

Vickers is helping Maddalena prepare for Islam Makhachev, the former UFC Lightweight Champion who vacated his gold to fight for the welterweight title. Vickers doesn’t believe Makhachev’s chin will be able to hold up against Maddalena, who demonstrated solid takedown defense and crisp striking in his title win over Belal Muhammad back in May.