Adios, Featherweight.
It has been 44 days since Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight Ilia Topuria brutally defeated "Baddest Motherf—ker" Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi at UFC 308. After that fight, it seemed like Topuria already had his next bout lined up: a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski.
However, plans have drastically changed. On Dec. 9, 2024, Topuria appeared on the podcast El Partidazo de Cadena Cope and revealed that his time in the Featherweight division is over.
"El Matador" was directly asked if his last fight against Holloway was indeed his final appearance at Featherweight, to which he confidently responded, "Yes, for sure. Definitely yes."
It’s surprising that Topuria is eager to leave the Featherweight class so soon, but his ambition is 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 stated. "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 currently on an impressive run, having knocked out both Volkanovski and Holloway back-to-back, there are still elite fighters in the division he could compete against, such as Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev. Notably, Makhachev has expressed no interest in facing the Spanish knockout artist.
Becoming a two-division champion in the UFC is an incredible achievement that resonates in the history books, but thoroughly cleaning out a division carries more weight for legacy. Nevertheless, considering Conor McGregor was his idol, Topuria’s aspirations make sense.
