UFC President Dana White has officially confirmed the main event for the organization`s highly anticipated International Fight Week card, UFC 317. After months of waiting for the headliner announcement, White revealed the featured bout tonight.
It is now set that Ilia Topuria will compete against former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight championship. UFC 317 is scheduled to take place just six weeks from now.
The co-main event will feature a championship rematch in the flyweight division, as Alexandre Pantoja takes on Kai Kara-France. The event promises a strong pay-per-view lineup, also including a middleweight clash between Paulo Costa and Roman Kopylov.
Dana White`s Sudden UFC 317 Reveal
This evening, UFC CEO Dana White surprisingly announced the main event for UFC 317 via social media. The event is slated for June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. True to his style, the promotional head delivered the significant fight news by hopping onto Instagram live.
He confirmed that Ilia Topuria will make his anticipated lightweight debut against the esteemed former world champion, Charles Oliveira. Oliveira steps into the main event slot following a change in plans. Initially, the event was expected to feature a champion vs. champion bout with Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight title. However, Makhachev is now pursuing a shot at the welterweight title.
Rumors had also circulated about a potential middleweight title defense for Dricus Du Plessis against Khamzat Chimaev on this card. However, it appears this fight is being held for a later date, despite both fighters having publicly expressed agreement to the matchup.
Ilia Topuria Moves Up to Lightweight Following Featherweight Success
Following his victory over Alexander Volkanovski to claim the featherweight title last year, Ilia Topuria successfully defended his belt against Max Holloway at UFC 308. He participated in a face-off with Volkanovski immediately after his defense, seemingly setting up a potential rematch, but has since abandoned that idea.
Instead, Topuria decided to move up a weight class to lightweight, originally intending to challenge Islam Makhachev for the belt. However, the Russian champion is now targeting Jack Della Maddalena, who recently won the welterweight belt.
When he steps into the lightweight division, Topuria will likely be on the smaller side, having even competed for a bantamweight title in Cage Warriors earlier in his career. Nevertheless, with an undefeated record in mixed martial arts, he is confident that his knockout power and skills will effectively translate to the higher weight class.
Gareth Pendleton