After stirring up the MMA community in recent days by declaring his interest in moving up to lightweight (up to 70,3 kg) and citing Charles Oliveira as a potential opponent, Ilia Topuria has partially reversed his decision. Although his coach has indicated his decision is final , the featherweight champion (up to 65,7 kg) has assured that he does not intend to relinquish his current title.
In a social media post on Thursday night (12), Topuria guaranteed that he will not leave the belt vacant, but reiterated his interest in acting as a lightweight, indicating that he will be another to seek the status of double UFC champion.
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“I’m not going to vacate the title. The decision to move up to the next division is entirely mine. I haven’t had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating, because I’m not going anywhere. I won my division and I’ll do the same in the next one,” said the Georgian-Spanish.
At 27 years old, Ilia Topuria was one of the main candidates for the 'Fighter of the Year' award in 2024, a season in which he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway to win and defend the featherweight title. The Georgian-Spanish fighter, however, was surpassed by Alex Poatan in the award.
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