The
UFC’s International Fight Week card will feature two
championship pairings at the top of the bill.
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UFC CEO Dana White announced on Tuesday that Ilia
Topuria will face Charles
Oliveira for the vacant lightweight strap, while Alexandre
Pantoja will defend his flyweight belt against Kai
Kara-France at UFC
317. Islam
Makhachev is relinquishing his 155-pound title to move up to
welterweight, White also confirmed.
UFC 317 takes place on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Other bouts confirmed for the card include a middleweight clash
between Paulo Costa
and Roman
Kopylov and a lightweight rebooking pitting Beneil
Dariush against Renato
Carneiro.
Topuria vacated the featherweight belt earlier this year in hopes
of pursuing championship dreams at 155 pounds. “El Matador”
captured the 145-pound strap with a second-round KO of Alexander
Volkanovski at UFC 298 before defending the crown with a
third-round knockout of Max
Holloway at UFC 308 this past October. “El Matador” is
undefeated in 16 professional appearances overall.
Oliveira is a former lightweight champion who went undefeated in 11
UFC outings from 2018 to 2022. “Do Bronxs” is coming off a 1-1
campaign in 2024, where he dropped a split decision to Arman
Tsarukyan in a title eliminator at UFC 300 before taking a
five-round verdict over Michael
Chandler at UFC 309 on Nov. 16. Oliveira was able to bypass
Tsarukyan on the contender’s list after the Russian lightweight
withdrew from a proposed booking against Makhachev at UFC 311.
Pantoja will take a seven-bout winning streak into the matchup with
Kara-France. After winning the flyweight title with a five-round
verdict over Brandon
Moreno at UFC 290, “The Cannibal” has authored successful
defenses against Brandon
Royval, Steve Erceg
and Kai
Asakura.
Kara-France is receiving a title shot largely on the basis of his
most recent work, a first-round TKO of Erceg at UFC 305 this past
August. Prior to that, “Don’t Blink” had dropped back-to-back
contests against Amir Albazi
and Moreno, though the split-decision defeat against Albazi was
quite controversial. Kara-France also lost a unanimous decision to
Pantoja in a quarterfinal bout on “The Ultimate Fighter 24,” but
that result is officially listed as an exhibition.