Ilia Topuria makes bold prediction for UFC 317 title showdown against Charles Oliveira
Ilia Topuria is in the midst of his speed run through the MMA history books.
This year's edition of International Fight Week concludes Saturday with UFC 317, headlined by a massive clash for the vacant lightweight title. Former featherweight champion Topuria left his weight class — and his belt — behind with the intention of becoming a two-division titleholder, and that starts in Las Vegas against former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
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Appearing on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Topuria broke down his highly-anticipated return to 155 pounds.
"You can never count him out because he's a dangerous guy," Topuria said of Oliveira. "He has the most finishes in the UFC's history. But I have faced those kind of situations many, many times, with [Alexander Volkanovski], with Max Holloway. No one could beat them. No one could knock them out. And they always had this thing in their mind, like, 'Oh, I faced this guy and this one and that. No one could knock me out.' You never faced me. You never faced someone that skillful like me.
"This is what I've been saying for a long time. The skill development I'm bringing to this sport, they've never felt it, they never saw it. So this is what's going to happen with Charles. He thinks that he has some opportunities, but the reality is that he [does] not. The only thing he has to do is show up, and I'll do the rest."
Topuria, 28, has been a picture of perfection throughout his 15-fight MMA career, defeating all comers, with only two opponents lasting long enough to see the judges' scorecards. In his first two UFC title fights, Topuria pulled off two of the most incredible performances of the past decade, knocking out all-time greats Volkanovski and Holloway in succession.
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Despite the new division and a dangerous new obstacle in Oliveira, "El Matador" predicts a similar outcome this time around.
"I'm going to finish him in the first round," Topuria said. "He walks forward — this is all I need. The time that it takes me to knock out my opponents is the time that it takes me to close the distance, because they run away. They run, they move side to side, and once I close the distance and I go with my combinations, I knock them out. But with Charles, I'm not going to need to close the distance because he walks forward. This is all I need to take his lights out. Just try to stay in the middle of the Octagon. Just try to do that, and you're not going to see me coming."
At the time of Topuria's decision to move up in weight this past February, the king of 155 pounds was still Islam Makhachev, a record-setting dominant lightweight champion. However, Makhachev has since followed in Topuria's footsteps, moving up to welterweight and leaving his title behind.
Although short-lived, the hypothetical matchup between the ultra-talented top pound-for-pound competitors created instant buzz and intrigue. Topuria and Makhachev had some brief exchanges on social media upon Topuria's featherweight exit, but ultimately the fight will have to wait.
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"I think he's doing his thing. I don't think [Makhachev] is ducking me, to be honest," Topuria said. "I would be lying to you if I told you that he's ducking me. I think he's tired of the weight cut. He wants a new challenge. He moved to the welterweight division. He feels and he thinks that he has a chance to become a double champion. I think that this is all he's trying to do."
Makhachev's absence from the lightweight division hasn't shut the door on a potential fight someday. It would just depend on the weight class, which has been a big factor in Topuria's decision-making.
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Topuria claimed in recent months that he typically walks around at roughly 180 pounds, which made the weight cuts to featherweight too difficult to continue with after he achieved his championship goal. By the time all is said and done, don't be surprised if he eventually continues his rise through weight classes.
"If I'm walking in the street with my wife and someone says something to her, I'm not going to ask him, 'How much is your weight? What is your reach? Height?'" Topuria said. "I will stay there and I'm going to take his head off. This is how I think. This is the fight business. I don't care how much is your weight. If we have a fight, let's fight. If you have 10 extra pounds, congratulations, but that's not going to help you.
"For sure [I could fight at welterweight before I'm done]. That could happen. Listen, if you have a champion like Belal [Muhammad], or I don't know many names that I could bring right now, that's an easy path. You can go slap him and get that title, and that's it.
"Right now, I feel good, I feel happy," Topuria added. "I'm still able to keep eating, keep drinking. I didn't have to kill myself until this point. Of course, the fight week is always tough, always hard. But you can't even compare. The extra pounds gave me life."
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Topuria said he expects to be anywhere between 174 to 179 pounds on fight night, which is a significant bump from the 167 to 171 pounds he competed at for featherweight.
While Topuria is a part of the influx of new, fresh faces entering the UFC lightweight title picture, so too is his old rival Paddy Pimblett, who's emerged as a true title threat in the years since their infamous 2022 spat at a fighter hotel in London. Pimblett's latest victory came in a dominant third-round stoppage against Michael Chandler in April, extending his win streak to nine, with seven of those coming in UFC.
Ilia Topuria made history by knocking out Max Holloway in his final featherweight fight.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Should Topuria claim the 155-pound title, it could conceivably set up their long-awaited grudge match. Yet as impressive as Pimblett has looked, Topuria believes the Liverpudlian needs at least one more win.
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"No, that's not going to happen. He's one fight away from the title shot," Topuria said. "He actually needs that fight because it's going to be even better for our fight, if he gets one more win. We're going to have, I think, the biggest fight in the UFC right now at the moment. Him vs. Justin Gaethje is good, because I think he's going to beat [Gaethje] easily because of the style [matchup].
"It's not like I don't like Justin Gaethje — I'm actually a huge fan of all of his fights. I enjoy watching him fight. He's one of those guys that takes a lot of punches and throws a lot of punches. I love to watch him fight, but I think that Paddy could get that win easily because of the style."
A Topuria vs. Pimblett bout would be massive no matter the location, but the same could be said for Topuria against anyone in his home country of Spain.
Unfortunately, "El Matador" has yet to receive his big homecoming UFC bout in Spain. UFC CEO Dana White has remained consistent with his interest in getting a card done in the country, especially with Topuria's star only glowing brighter with each win.
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Topuria is still holding out hope, regardless of how well a Spanish show could do numbers-wise.
"[The dream is] not over," Topuria said of a UFC homecoming. "They are trying to close a new deal, so maybe in that deal they are going to get some space to make an event in Europe in the primetime in Europe. If they get that, I would love to fight in Spain in the [Santiago Bernabeu] Stadium. It has to be in the stadium. It will be insane, but I don't know if pay-per-view-wise it would be insane.
"If they do primetime in Europe, I don't think that the pay-per-view numbers are going to do really well [because of how early it'd be in the U.S.]. The biggest market for the pay-per-view is the United States. I think the biggest fights have to happen in the United States."
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