Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has become the 10th fighter in UFC history — and the first undefeated fighter in UFC history — to win a championship in a second weight class, scoring a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira to win the UFC lightweight championship.
The title was vacated after Islam Makhachev announced plans to move up to welterweight to challenge new champion Jack Della Maddalena.
The two came out swinging early, with Topuria opening a cut around one of Oliveira’s eyes and Oliveira landing a strong right hand. Oliveira then pressed Topuria against the fence and went for a takedown — but Topuria countered and ended up on top. Topuria got into side control, but Oliveira threatened a leg lock temporarily before the fight retuned to the feet.
And it was there where Topuria landed a one-two that dropped Oliveira and knocked him out cold to become the new champion.
Following the fight, Topuria had a confrontation in the Octagon with Paddy Pimblett, who shoved Topuria before security separated the two.
Ilia Topuria Becomes New Lightweight Champion With First-Round KO Of Charles Oliveira At UFC 317
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Topuria won the UFC featherweight championship at UFC 298 last year with a knockout of Alexander Volkanovski. He then became the first man to knock out Max Holloway at UFC 308 before jumping up in weight.
Oliveira is now 3-3 in the six fights he’s had since losing the UFC lightweight title on the scales in 2022. He won the belt originally by defeating Michael Chandler at UFC 262 and retained against Dustin Poirier at UFC 269.
