Ilia Topuria’s reign atop the UFC featherweight division may have been short-lived, but he insists he already had one foot out the door before his first title defense even took place.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) dethroned longtime champion Alexander Volkanovski in February 2024, then became the first fighter to knock out Volkanovski’s predecessor, Max Holloway, when they faced off at UFC 308 in October.
“El Matador” has since vacated the featherweight title and is now set to face Charles Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) for the vacant lightweight belt in the main event at UFC 317 this Saturday.
While his move to the 155-pound division may have surprised some fans, Topuria insists he had already made the decision to move up before his victory over Holloway.
“Even before the fight, I was sure that I would leave the division” Topuria said this week during an interview with The New York Post. “I already spoke to my family, to my team, and I told everyone, like, this is the last fight (1t 145 pounds). This is the last weight cut I'm doing. So after this one, we are going to the lightweight division.”
At 5’7”, Topuria may not be the tallest fighter in the UFC lightweight division, but he says the difficulty of making the 145-pound limit was a key factor in his decision to move up. “Always when you have that last mile to run, you are getting like more exhausted, more tired”, he said. “And that was happening to me in the last weight cut. I knew that it was the last weight cut, so I suffered a lot.”
When Topuria first decided to move up to the lightweight division, his sights were set on a blockbuster matchup with longtime titleholder Islam Makhachev. However, the Dagestani fighter has since followed in Topuria’s footsteps by vacating his belt and moving up to 170 pounds. Still, Topuria hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility of that fight happening down the line.
“I don't care, I don't want to run behind anyone” the Spanish Georgian said. “You know what I mean? So if he wants to fight, I will be here. I will defend my belt and he can come and fight for a lightweight belt or I can move to the welterweight and we fight for the welterweight belt. I don't care.”
With Makhachev out of the title picture, all eyes now turn to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday, where Topuria will face former champion Charles Oliveira for the belt Makhachev vacated.
One man watching closely will be Arman Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who was originally scheduled to face Makhachev at UFC 311 in January before withdrawing at the last minute due to a back injury. The Armenian fighter is set to weigh in as the backup this weekend, but Topuria insists that doesn’t automatically put him at the front of the line to face the winner.
“I wouldn't give him the chance immediately” said the former featherweight champion. “He needs to win one more fight. He had the opportunity to fight for the title. He pulled out, I don't know for what reasons, but he pulled out. So he needs to win his shot again against, I don't know, someone. There's Justin Gaethje, Paddy Pimblett, many guys in the division that also deserve the shot. So they need to fight between each other.”
