Ilia Topuria’s championship reign up at lightweight started with a bang on Saturday night, taking out one of the division’s most beloved names in devastating fashion.
Topuria knocked out former world champ Charles Oliveira on Saturday night to capture the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship in just one round, making him the 10th-ever fighter in the promotion’s history to put together a title reign in two different weight classes.
The lightning-quick win for Topuria – just a minute and a half in total – headlined UFC 317 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Topuria proved that the brutal striking power he became known for at featherweight will continue to be a force at lightweight, sleeping Oliveira with a right hook near the halfway point of the opening round.
The Spanish-Georgian star landed a left hook as part of the two-punch combination that put away Oliveira as well, although it was the leading right hand that ended the contest.
Prior to the sudden finish, the lightweights had a brief exchange on the ground. Topuria was able to reverse a takedown attempt from Oliveira to get top position, but found himself returning to the feet after the Brazilian vet grabbed hold of a leg, threatening a potential submission.
28-year-old Topuria first made a name for himself at featherweight, where he took down long-time champ Alexander Volkanovski in just three rounds to claim UFC gold. He later got past another experienced fan favorite last October, overcoming Max Holloway in three rounds.
Saturday marked not only his quickest title win since entering the UFC, but his fastest victory through nine appearances in the promotion altogether.
The undefeated champion made the decision to relinquish his featherweight title and pursue a campaign up at 155 pounds this year, citing health reasons as the explanation for the move.
Due to previous lightweight champ Islam Makhachev coincidentally also moving up a weight class, Topuria entered a division without an active titleholder, hence why he competed for a vacant belt on Saturday.
It seems possible that Topuria’s first appearance as lightweight champ might come against English talent Paddy Pimblett, a 30-year-old who has moved up the lightweight standings with names over seasoned talents like Michael Chandler and King Green.
Topuria and Pimblett went face-to-face inside the UFC cage on Saturday night, with the fighters getting pulled apart after the newly-crowned champ shoved Pimblett.
Another potential next challenger could be first-ranked Arman Tsarukyan, who was set to challenge past champ Makhachev for the title earlier this year before an injury changed his plans. He was also attending Saturday’s card, but didn’t have a face-to-face encounter with the champ.
Oliveira was hoping to become the first-ever two-time lightweight champ in UFC history with a win this weekend. Three years after his initial reign dramatically came to an end due to a weight miss, Oliveira entered this weekend as a +300 underdog on some sportsbooks, who were skeptical that the 35-fight UFC vet would walk out of the fight victorious.
“Do Bronx” was riding the momentum of a late-2024 five-round win over Michael Chandler. The 35-year-old is now back to the drawing board after getting stopped with strikes for the first time since 2017.
