Hang on tight, because it’s about to get confusing.
Ex-Ultimate
Fighting Championship featherweight champ Ilia
Topuria (16-0) appeared on Spanish television broadcast
“El
Hormiguero” on Thursday night to reveal his next opponent. The
Spanish-Georgian fighter explained that he would be appearing at
UFC
317 on June 28, but that his opponent was not yet decided.
Instead, he noted that it was outcome-dependent, namely following
the results of the UFC 315 main event at 170 pounds between
Belal
Muhammad and Jack
Della Maddalena.
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As he stated, if champ Muhammad prevailed at night’s end, Topuria
would end up facing Islam
Makhachev for the lightweight throne. However, if Maddalena won
the championship bout, Makhachev would move up to welterweight to
challenge Maddalena while Topuria would square off against Charles
Oliveira for the vacant 155-pound belt—and Ian Garry
would have the next crack at Muhammad. He also noted that he
planned on reverting back to his original nickname of “El Matador”
rather than his chosen “La Leyenda” due to fan backlash and
ridicule. At the UFC 315 press
conference on Thursday, the promotion confirmed that this would
indeed be the case.
Topuria left his 145-pound crown behind after wrecking Alexander
Volkanovski and Max
Holloway in back-to-back shockers. In the latter, the man once
again known as “El Matador” became the first fighter to ever stop
the ultra-durable Holloway with strikes. The Climent Club export
has yet to taste defeat as a pro, with 14 of his 16 victories
coming inside the distance. He briefly tested the waters at 155
pounds in the promotion in 2022, slugging it out with Jai Herbert
and even getting floored before he iced Herbert in the second
stanza.
Current lightweight king Makhachev is riding a stellar 15-fight win
streak, one shy of Anderson
Silva’s all-time record. The close friend and training partner
of Khabib
Nurmagomedov picked up where Nurmagomedov left off by claiming
the vacant title against Oliveira, and he has since defended it
four times including twice against Volkanovski. In the process, he
notched the record for the most consecutive defenses of the UFC
lightweight throne.
Brazilian ex-champ Oliveira surrendered his belt to the scales
before facing Justin
Gaethje, and he went on to tap “The Highlight” in the first
round. He vied for his old title against Makhachev at UFC 280,
ultimately suffering a stoppage loss. Bouncing back in 2023 by
knocking out Beneil
Dariush, he subsequently dropped a controversial split decision
to Arman
Tsarukyan where fans and pundits cried for two more rounds of
competition between the two. Last November, Oliveira rematched
Michael
Chandler, winning once again but needing the full 25 minutes to
get his hand raised.