UFC CEO Dana White has officially announced Ilia Topuria will take on Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
International Fight Week is always one of the biggest events of the year, but the promotion had yet to announce the headliner. A key reason why was that Islam Makhachev, the lightweight champion, wanted to see how the main event played out, as if Jack Della Maddalena beat Belal Muhammad, he would be moving up to welterweight.
Now, after that is what has happened, Dana White announced that Ilia Topuria will take on Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the main event of UFC 317.
Ilia Topuria (16-0) vacated his featherweight title to move up to lightweight and will now get an immediate title shot. Topuria is coming off a KO win over Max Holloway to defend his featherweight title. Topuria won the belt by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski. The 28-year-old is 8-0 in the UFC and has notable wins over Josh Emmett, Bryce Mitchell, and knocked out Jai Herbert in his lone lightweight bout in the UFC.
Charles Oliveira (35-10) is coming off a decision win over Michael Chandler back in November. It got him back into the win column after a split decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan. Oliveira is the former UFC lightweight champ.
The co-main event of UFC 317 will see flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja taking on Kai Kara-France, Dana White announced.
Pantoja (29-5) is coming off a submission win over Kai Asakura to defend his title for the third time. The Brazilian is 13-3 in the UFC and riding a seven-fight winning streak. Kara-France, meanwhile, is 25-11 and is coming off a KO win over Steve Erceg to earn the title shot.
