Ilia Topuria doesn’t anticipate Charles Oliveira to go the gap with him at UFC 317.
“El Matador” has an opportunity to turn out to be a two-division UFC champion when he fights Oliveira in the principle occasion of the June 28 pay-per-view, which takes place on the conclusion of Worldwide Struggle Week in Las Vegas. The undefeated Topuria voluntarily vacated his featherweight title following a pair of title combat wins over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and although he won’t be fighting Pound-for-Pound No. 1 Islam Makhachev —equally vacating his light-weight title to problem welterweight champion Jack Maddalena— claiming a second belt is Topuria’s prime precedence.
On Tuesday, Topuria shared a brief clip of his coaching accompanied by a caption studying, “What do you favor, submitting him or knocking him out?” suggesting he expects to complete Oliveira to turn out to be light-weight champion.
Topuria’s boast just isn’t with out advantage, as he has been one of the thrilling finishers in MMA these previous few years. He has gone to a choice simply twice in eight UFC appearances, and his previous two wins each made historical past. So far, Topuria is the one fighter to defeat Alexander Volkanovski in a 145-pound bout and the one fighter to complete Max Holloway by way of knockout.
He additionally has extra wins by submission (8) than by KO/TKO (6), although seven of his submission victories happened earlier than his UFC debut.
In Oliveira, Topuria finds himself dealing with an equally harmful twin menace. “Do Bronx” is the proprietor of 10 KOs/TKOs and 21 submissions in his 46-fight profession, and he holds the report for essentially the most finishes (20) and submissions (16) in UFC historical past. He has gone the gap in his previous two outings, most lately defeating Michael Chandler by resolution at UFC 309 to bounce again from a slender cut up resolution loss to Arman Tsarukyan.
UFC 317 is headlined by Topuria vs. Oliveira for the vacant light-weight title, with flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja going for his fourth consecutive protection within the co-main occasion when he faces Kai Kara-France.
