This article provides coverage of the vacant UFC lightweight championship fight featuring Ilia Topuria against Charles Oliveira. This highly anticipated main card bout is scheduled for Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ilia Topuria, holding the No. 2 spot, and Charles Oliveira, ranked No. 17 in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound rankings, are set to clash for the championship belt. The title became available after former champion Islam Makhachev decided to move up a weight class to challenge Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight.
Although Ilia Topuria (with a perfect 16-0 record) might have preferred to claim the lightweight title by defeating Makhachev directly, he now has an opportunity to join an elite group of two-division UFC champions. “El Matador” previously vacated his featherweight title following impressive consecutive knockout victories over divisional legends Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Should he deliver a similar dominant performance against Oliveira, it could solidify his claim for one of the best three-fight runs in the sport`s history.
Charles Oliveira (35-10, 1 NC) also has a chance to make history; a win would make him the first fighter in UFC history to secure the 155-pound belt twice. Known as “do Bronx” and recognized as the UFC`s most prolific finisher, he initially won and defended the lightweight title in 2021. However, he lost the belt on the scale prior to his UFC 274 fight against Justin Gaethje. Despite submitting Gaethje in that bout, he was unsuccessful in reclaiming the vacant title when stopped by Islam Makhachev at UFC 280. Oliveira now gets another significant opportunity to prove that he still deserves to be called champion.
