Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira booked to crown new UFC lightweight champion as Islam Makhachev vacates

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ilia Topuria will square off with Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, it has been announced, as the former title holders vie to crown a new lightweight champion.

Topuria held the featherweight belt from February 2024 until this February, before vacating the gold to move up to lightweight, with the intention of challenging for a second title.

With the Georgian-Spaniard adamant that the UFC would honour his wish, all that was left was to determine Topuria’s opponent; then-lightweight champion Islam Makhachev had his own plan to challenge for the welterweight strap, but said he would not fight friend Belal Muhammad, who owned that belt until Saturday.

As such, Muhammad’s decision loss to Jack Della Maddalena has opened the door for Makhachev to challenge for the 170lb title, meaning Topuria has been left to face Oliveira for the vacant lightweight gold.

And the pair will meet at UFC 317 on 28 June, as Topuria aims to become a two-weight champion, while Oliveira tries to kickstart his second reign at lightweight.

The Brazilian, 35, won the vacant title in 2021, stopping Michael Chandler to do so. He then recorded a successful title defence by submitting Dustin Poirier, but his second defence – against Justin Gaethje in 2022 – was affected by a narrow miss at the weigh-ins. Oliveira was stripped of the title the night before fighting Gaethje, and he was also ineligible to win back the gold in that bout.

Ilia Topuria (left) and Charles Oliveira will meet in a lightweight title fight (Getty)

In any case, “Do Bronx” submitted Gaethje, setting up a meeting with Makhachev later in 2022. In that fight, Makhachev submitted Oliveira – the greatest submission artist in UFC history, statistically – to win the belt. The Russian then achieved a record four successful title defences.

A rematch was planned with Oliveira in 2023, but the Brazilian suffered a nasty cut over his eye, costing him a title opportunity. That episode occurred after Oliveira had stopped Beneil Dariush, and he has since lost to Arman Tsarukyan and beaten Chandler for the second time. The latter result, in November, marked Oliveira’s most-recent outing.

Meanwhile, Topuria kept his unbeaten record intact while storming to the featherweight title, which he won with a knockout of long-reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski last February. In October, the 28-year-old retained the belt with a knockout of former champion Max Holloway.

For more: Elrisala website and for social networking, you can follow us on Facebook
Source of information and images “independent”“