Adios, Featherweight.
It has been 44 days since Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight Ilia Topuria brutally slept “Baddest Motherf—ker” Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi at UFC 308 (watch highlights), and after the fight, it seemed like Topuria already had his next fight lined up: a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski.
Well, it seems plans have drastically changed because today (Mon., Dec. 9, 2024), Topuria appeared on the podcast El Partidazo de Cadena Cope and revealed his time at Featherweight is over.
“El Matador” was blatantly asked if his last fight against Holloway was his last at Featherweight, and he said, “Yes, for sure. Definitely yes.”
It’s shocking that Topuria already wants to leave Featherweight, but he wants to become a two-division champion.
“We need to talk about it and take a look at my future, but for me, it’s very clear how I want to do it,” Topuria said. “I’d like to move up to the next weight class, and since Islam [Makhachev] is the champion fighting in January, and he won’t be ready for April or May, I’d like to fight against the No. 1 contender right now, who’s Charles Oliveira… I’m 27; I hope to be out by 30.”
While Topuria is on a spectacular run right now, including knocking out Volkanovski (watch here) and Holloway back-to-back, there are still high-level fighters in the division that he can compete against, like Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev. Also, Makhachev has no interest in fighting the Spanish knockout artist.
Being a UFC two-division champion is excellent for the history books, but thoroughly cleaning out a division holds more weight for legacy. However, Conor McGregor was his idol, so it makes sense.