Ilia Topuria will sq. off with Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, it has been introduced, as the previous title holders vie to crown a brand new light-weight champion.
Topuria held the featherweight belt from February 2024 till this February, earlier than vacating the gold to maneuver as much as light-weight, with the intention of difficult for a second title.
With the Georgian-Spaniard adamant that the UFC would honour his want, all that was left was to find out Topuria’s opponent; then-lightweight champion Islam Makhachev had his personal plan to problem for the welterweight strap, however mentioned he wouldn’t combat good friend Belal Muhammad, who owned that belt till Saturday.
As such, Muhammad’s choice loss to Jack Della Maddalena has opened the door for Makhachev to problem for the 170lb title, which means Topuria has been left to face Oliveira for the vacant light-weight gold.
And the pair will meet at UFC 317 on 28 June, as Topuria goals to turn out to be a two-weight champion, whereas Oliveira tries to kickstart his second reign at light-weight.
The Brazilian, 35, gained the vacant title in 2021, stopping Michael Chandler to take action. He then recorded a profitable title defence by submitting Dustin Poirier, however his second defence – towards Justin Gaethje in 2022 – was affected by a slender miss on the weigh-ins. Oliveira was stripped of the title the night time earlier than combating Gaethje, and he was additionally ineligible to win again the gold in that bout.
In any case, “Do Bronx” submitted Gaethje, organising a gathering with Makhachev later in 2022. In that combat, Makhachev submitted Oliveira – the best submission artist in UFC historical past, statistically – to win the belt. The Russian then achieved a document 4 profitable title defences.
A rematch was deliberate with Oliveira in 2023, however the Brazilian suffered a nasty lower over his eye, costing him a title alternative. That episode occurred after Oliveira had stopped Beneil Dariush, and he has since misplaced to Arman Tsarukyan and crushed Chandler for the second time. The latter end result, in November, marked Oliveira’s most-recent outing.
In the meantime, Topuria saved his unbeaten document intact whereas storming to the featherweight title, which he gained with a knockout of long-reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski final February. In October, the 28-year-old retained the belt with a knockout of former champion Max Holloway.
