Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) vacated his UFC Featherweight Championship on Feb. 19 of this year, a vacation that became effective once the UFC 314 main event began on April 12. At the time of the announcement, UFC CEO Dana White mentioned the reasoning behind Topuria’s move.
“[Ilia] Topuria felt like he’s done all he can in that division,” White began “and he feels like he’s cemented his legacy and his body cannot make the weight anymore, so Topuria will be moving up to 155-lb and will be vacating the title.”
Subsequent to that, Dana White said that the UFC would reveal who Ilia Topuria would face for his first fight at lightweight since 2022 in due course. Eventually, a June 28 fight date versus Charles Oliveira (35-11, 1 NC MMA, 23-11, 1 NC UFC) was confirmed by the promotion for the UFC 317 main event, the finale of the UFC’s 2025 International Fight Week.
Ilia Topuria’s Question Answered in UFC 317 Main Event
In the days leading up to UFC 317 from the T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV, Topuria made it clear to the entire world that his gameplan for last Saturday night was a simple one, “Seek and destroy.”
“What do you prefer, submitting him or knocking him out?”, Topuria pondered in a post on his Instagram account. Statistically, the question that Ilia Topuria asked can be backed up by the fact that he had 14 wins before the final horn blared ahead of UFC 317.
Last Saturday evening, Enterprise, NV was the host city for what eventually became Topuria’s 15th career finish. The main event of the evening was scheduled for an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round, but he only needed less than half of one round of action to pass his latest test with flying colors.
Upon Ilia Topuria taking Oliveira down, he quickly advanced to side control before Oliveira attempted a leg lock. but Topuria fought his way out of the hold. From there, Topuria kicked the leg of a grounded Charles Oliveira before referee Marc Goddard ordered Oliveira to rise.
Ilia Topuria Makes Charles Oliveira Pay
After the restart, Topuria scored with a brief flurry of punches, forcing Charles Oliveira to go to the clinch, an effort that was ill-fated due to Ilia Topuria quickly breaking free. While Oliveira landed an uppercut about two minutes and 20 seconds into the fight, it would quickly become clear that Saturday was to be the former’s night inside the famous Octagon.
Topuria landed a vicious combination of a right hook followed by a left hook to drop “Do Bronx” on the canvas before finishing off the fight, and by extension, the evening as a whole during UFC 317, with a couple of ground strikes before Marc Goddard rushed into call a halt to the contest.
“A man of his word!”, exclaimed UFC blow-by-blow commentator Jon Anik on the UFC 317 main card pay-per-view Saturday night, “and now the new UFC Lightweight Champion, Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria!”
Ilia Topuria Has Paddy Pimblett in Mind for Future Contest
In the immediate aftermath of the UFC 317 main event on Saturday evening, Ilia Topuria called Paddy Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) over from the audience into the Octagon to challenge him to a fight and a shove.
Although Paddy Pimblett will not be Ilia Topuria’s next foe inside the cage, with Pimblett leaked to be fighting on Noche UFC in September versus Dricus du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) during that night’s co-headlining affair, a fight between the two men would be a juicy affair if and when it comes to pass.
“That was a heavy knockout,” Pimblett told Topuria, “I’ll give you that respect, but you will never knock me out. You cannot knock me out! You know you can’t knock me out! You know I don’t get knocked out!”
Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett have a rivalry between them. Back in 2022, during the run-up to the UFC London card, the two fighters nearly got into a physical altercation at the competitors’ hotel.
Final Thoughts
Even though an Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett fight will need to wait for right now, the new lightweight champion has proven one thing throughout his 17-fight career as a professional: He’s tough as nails when the cage door slams shut on any given Saturday night.
Whoever Topuria faces next, wherever in the world it happens to be, you should get your popcorn ready on fight night. It’ll be a most awesome scrap.
