Ilia Topuria came out victorious on June 28 when he faced Charles Oliveira atop UFC 317, live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The contest featured the unbeaten Georgian-Spanish former featherweight champion against the former lightweight champion from Brazil. The two fighters battled it out for the vacant title at 155 lbs.
The scheduled five-round contest ended early. Following some wrestling on the ground, during which Topuria escaped a leglock, the referee brought both fighters back to their feet. As the striking resumed, Topuria started working from the back foot, throwing jabs to the head and body. When Oliveira moved forward, Topuria caught him with a short right hand followed by a left hook.
As Oliveira hit the canvas, Topuria landed a couple of hammer fists, and Marc Goddard rushed in to call it a day. The official time of the stoppage was 2 minutes and 27 seconds into the first round.
With the victory by knockout, 28-year-old Ilia Topuria remained undefeated, improved to 17-0, and became champion in his second weight class. 35-year-old Charles Oliveira didn’t succeed in his second attempt to regain the title, dropping to 35-11, 1 NC.
In the UFC 317 co-main event, Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja (30-5) made his fourth successful defense of the flyweight title against Kai Kara-France (25-12, 1 NC) of New Zealand. Pantoja retained his belt, defeating Kara-France by submission via rear-naked choke at 1:55 of the third round.