Ilia Topuria doesn`t anticipate his fight with Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 lasting the full duration.
“El Matador” has the opportunity to become a two-division UFC champion when he faces Oliveira in the headliner of the June 28 pay-per-view, scheduled for the culmination of International Fight Week in Las Vegas. The undefeated Topuria chose to vacate his featherweight title after two successful title defenses against Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Although he won`t be competing against Pound-for-Pound king Islam Makhachev (who similarly gave up his lightweight belt to challenge welterweight champion Jack Maddalena), Topuria`s main goal is securing a second championship.
On Tuesday, Topuria posted a brief training video accompanied by the caption, “What do you prefer, submitting him or knocking him out?”, indicating his expectation to finish Oliveira and claim the lightweight title.
Topuria`s confident statement is well-founded, given his reputation as one of MMA`s most thrilling finishers in recent years. Out of eight UFC appearances, only two have gone to a decision, and his last two victories were historic. To date, Topuria is the sole fighter to defeat Alexander Volkanovski in the featherweight division and the only one to stop Max Holloway via knockout.
While he possesses more victories by submission (8) than by KO/TKO (6), it`s worth noting that seven of his submission wins occurred before his UFC debut.
In Charles Oliveira, Topuria faces an equally formidable opponent with diverse finishing skills. “Do Bronx” boasts a record of 10 KOs/TKOs and 21 submissions across his 46-fight career, holding UFC records for most finishes (20) and most submissions (16). He has gone the distance in his two most recent outings, securing a decision win over Michael Chandler at UFC 309 to rebound from a close split decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan.
UFC 317`s main event features Topuria vs. Oliveira contesting the vacant lightweight championship. The co-main event sees flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja attempt his fourth consecutive title defense against Kai Kara-France.
