Ilia Topuria featherweight days can be done forever.
“El Matador” ran a legendary 145 pounds, earning UFC gold undefeated, and was filmed in February 2024 with a stunning knockout from Alexander Volkanovsky.
After compiling a long list of featherweight accolades before the age of 28, Topria has taken on a whole new challenge as he prepares to compete for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 317 on June 28, when he faces Charles Oliveira on June 28th. To book the opportunity, Topuria had to open a 145 pound belt.
Considering how difficult it is for Topuria to cut to that weight, he has no regrets.
“When you can’t lose weight and eat or drink water, you don’t care about material things,” Topuria told ESPN Deportes (Spanish translation by Championship Round). “They can hand you money, they can give you all the cars you want, you don’t care at all. If they give you this little water and say, “You can drink this and it won’t gain your weight,” I need it to you in that moment.
“I was already doing it all throughout my career. I already achieved my dream. It was about becoming a world champion. I didn’t want to suffer anymore, so I had to close that chapter. Honestly, it was living in the desert and I wanted to live on the beach.”
The only reason Topria is moving to 155 pounds isn’t to remove the intense weight that has been cut out from his life.
When Topuria decided to pursue the lightweight title, it lived at the waist of Islamic Makhachev, a 1-pound pound fighter on Earth. Topuria is content to fight for the title regardless of his opponent and claims there is nothing personal between him and Makhachev, but his initial plan was to defeat Makhachev and take his belt.
“Why do you want to fight Islam?” Topuria said. “For one simple fact, it’s the same with Volkanovski. If you beat someone and got the title at 145, it had to be Volk. He had the most history in the department, so at that point it had to be Volk. He was everyone great.
“It’s the same as Islam, I wanted to fight him just because he was controlling everyone.
That said, there was one aspect of the potential battle with Makhachev, who rubbed Toplia the wrong way.
In an interview, Makhachev and his team were reluctant to take over Topulia as a respectable challenger, and insisted on getting a lightweight victory before taking on the title. He also didn’t appreciate the suggestion that Makhachev would not vacancies his title before moving on to a fight with new welterweight champion Jacques Della Madalena (it was later announced that Makhachev would vacate the title for contests at UFC 317).
Anyway, Topuria is currently earning one victory from lightweight gold. This is an opportunity to believe that Makhachev or anyone else has to say, is waiting for him.
“They tried to make it look important,” Topria said of Makhachev and his team. “The attitude they have is like they invented sports. Do you know? It was only two days before everything came out, but everyone recognized the truth,
“Even if we move to ‘170, we’re not going to let the title go.” “No, Ilia has to fight someone to win a title shot.