Cheima Moufdil
Ilia Topuria’s long-anticipated shot at lightweight gold is now official.
UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday via Instagram Live that Topuria will headline UFC 317 on June 28 in Las Vegas, taking on former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title. The event caps off International Fight Week at T-Mobile Arena.
The belt became available after reigning champion Islam Makhachev vacated it to move up to welterweight, where he is now set to challenge newly crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena. While a date and location for that fight remains undetermined, White confirmed it is in the works.
In the co-main event of UFC 317, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja will defend his title against Kai Kara-France. The bout is a rematch of their meeting on The Ultimate Fighter 24, where Pantoja came out on top. Since then, the Brazilian champion has defended the title three times, while Kara-France punched his ticket to the title shot with a first-round knockout of Steve Erceg.
Topuria (16-0), the undefeated Spanish-Georgian star, aims to become a two-division champion after vacating his featherweight title earlier this year. “El Matador” rose to prominence with wins over Bryce Mitchell, Josh Emmett, and most notably Alexander Volkanovski—whom he knocked out at UFC 298 to capture the featherweight belt. He followed that up by becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway in his first title defense.
With Makhachev moving up, Topuria didn’t miss the opportunity to take a dig at the former champion on social media:
“On June 28, another dream will come true. I’ll be the champion of the lightweight division. Charles, my apologies in advance… I’m just fighting for my dreams. It’s unfortunate that Makhachev ran away. 17-0.”
Oliveira (35-10, 1 NC) is no stranger to vacant title fights. He won the 155-pound crown at UFC 262 after submitting Michael Chandler, following the retirement of Khabib Nurmagomedov. After a successful defense against Dustin Poirier, he was stripped of the belt for missing weight before submitting Justin Gaethje in a non-title bout. His next opportunity came at UFC 280, where he was submitted by Makhachev in a lopsided defeat.