Ilia Topuria will face Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, Leg announced, while the former headlines compete to crown a new light champion.
Topuria kept the featherweight belt from February 2024 until this February, before vacancy gold to move to light weight, with the intention of challenging a second title.
With the Georgian-Spaniard firm in which the UFC would honor his desire, all that remained was to determine the opponent of Topuria; The then lightweight weight champion Makhachev had his own plan to challenge the Welter weight strap, but said he would not fight with friend Belal Muhammad, owner of that belt until Saturday.
As such, Muhammad’s loss of Jack Della Maddalena has opened for Makhachev to challenge the title of 170 pounds, which means that Topuria has been confronted by Oliveira for the light empty gold.
And the couple will meet at UFC 317 on June 28, since Topuria aims to become a two -weight champion, while Oliveira tries to start his second reign with lightweight.
The 35 -year -old Brazilian won the vacancy in 2021, stopping Michael Chandler to do so. A successful defense of the title was registered by presenting Dustin Poirier, but his second defense against Justin Gaethje in 2022 was affected by a narrow in the pesos. Oliveira was stripped of the title the night before fighting Gaethje, and was also initial to recover gold in that fight.
In any case, “Do Bronx” presented Gaethje, organizing a meeting with Makhachev later in 2022. In that fight, Makhachev presented Oliveira, the best artist of submission in the history of UFC, statistically, to win the belt. The Russian then achieved a record of four successful title defenses.
A rematch was planned with Oliveira in 2023, but the Brazilian suffered an unpleasant cut on his eye, costing him a title opportunity. That episode occurred after Oliveira stopped Dariush, and has spread to Arman Tsarukyan and Beeten Chandler for the second time. The result of the letter, in November, marked Oliveira’s most recent departure.
Meanwhile, Topuria kept his undefeated record intact while assaulting the pen title, which won with a knockout champion Alexander Volkanovski last February. In October, the 28 -year -old retired his belt with a knockout from former champion Max Holloway.
