Ilia Topuria Decided He’d Give Up 145 For UFC Lightweight Division Even Before This Blockbuster KO

Ilia Topuria concedes that he wanted to vacate UFC 145-pound division prior to resounding KO victory over the former UFC champ.

Ilia Topuria Decided He’d Give Up 145 For UFC Lightweight Division Even Before This Blockbuster KO

Ilia Topuria opens up about when the 145-pound cut started to affect him (Source: X)

Despite a stout past stint at featherweight and a one-of-one 2024 title campaign with blockbuster knockouts, Ilia Topuria was ready to give it all up. He now fights for the vacant 155-pound strap at UFC 317 PPV main event, live from T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, this Saturday, during IFW Festivities.

Despite his harrowing weight cut at 145-pounds, which Ilia Topuria opened about a lot recently, he had immense success in the weight class. Still undefeated, he even went past names like champ Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway (his first and only 145-pound PPV title defense), rather easily.

In a UFC 317 PPV pre-fight media outing with The New York Post Sports’ Against The Cage, ‘El Matador’ stamped UFC 282 against Bryce Mitchell as where he started having weight cut troubles. Gaining more muscle mass and natural hydration over the years, he ballooned up to weights and bone densities similar to those of a natural competition 170-pounder.

However, Topuria couldn’t leave the weight class behind without achieving his goals: the frontrunner was snagging the undisputed gold from former #1 Pound-for-pound name Volk at their Anaheim, Calif., PPV title match. The second was to prove that the first one wasn’t a fluke and knock out Holloway, similarly.

The Bryce Mitchell fight…it was normal to cut that weight, but then I grow, I get more muscle… I started to fill up [for that] the Bryce Mitchell fight. The weight cut really, really hard…And I was like: …’Now, I can’t move to the lightweight division because I’m already ranked’. So I wanted to finish this chapter that I have…When I became world champion, I beat Volk and then I had in my division Max Holloway. So, I was like, ‘I can’t leave the division without fighting him’. I have to fight him, I have to beat him and then I’m done.

Ilia Topuria to Scott Fontana (@Scott_Fontana) for The New York Post Sports’ Against The Cage

Before his amicable split, Club Climent, and then his manager, Malki Kawa, made a big deal of it too, as to how harrowing it was for Topuria to make cuts at featherweight. That, and an untested grappling as good as his standup and consecutive title KOs, made it a must-watch skills test against then-155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev.

Nevertheless, Topuria acknowledged that departing the 145-pound weight class would necessitate a confrontation with Holloway. ‘Blessed’ was the hot talk of town as the new “BMF” who made a more fulfilling 155-pound hydration and a buzzer-beater highlight KO on the milestone UFC 300 PPV lineup. Thus, he took the judicious course of action and prevailed over him, ending his title reign with a KO win.

Even before the fight, I was sure that I would leave the division. I already spoke to my family, to my team, and I told everyone that this is the last fight, …This is the last weight cut I’m doing. After this one — we are going to the lightweight division.

Ilia Topuria further for The New York Post Sports’ Against The Cage

Meanwhile, Holloway too made a permanent switch to 155 for much the same reasons. His first coming was somewhat turbulent, and he runs things back with Dustin Poirier a third and possibly final time, at the UFC 318 PPV main event, July 19th, at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. After that assignment, the Hawaiian wants to run things back with the Topuria-Charles Oliveira winner. It might just be Topuria if the Spaniard has his say about it.

Ilia Topuria predicts exact combo to sleep #2 lightweight Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 PPV title fight

Team Chute Boxe – Diego Lima lightweight Charles Olvieria banked on his promise to daughter Thayla to spin a different narrative and bag undisputed gold. But three numbered PPV offerings later, he lost gold to longtime reigning 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev and was angsty for that rematch. Now, fatherhood and his son have rekindled his drive to get back to 155-pound undisputed gold again.

UFC 317 star Ilia Topuria has designs on how it will end
UFC 317 star Ilia Topuria has designs on how it will end (Source: X)

But for Topuria, it’s his usual cockiness to do it all, be it all, and a be a two-weight champion. Ilia Topuria makes boisterous promises and usually delivers. The Spaniard has never eschewed expressing his self-assurance of getting it done, and that goes on in the lead-up to UFC 317 PPV.

During an interview for UFC 317 “Countdown”: Topuria vs Oliveira with Simon Head for UFC.com, Topuria recently previewed his IFW showcase PPV title fight with Oliveira. He even predicted an exact sequence for a possible finish:

From the first second, he’s going to feel the speed and the power…going to start to look for the takedowns and for the ground game. But I think that it’s going to be very, very quick, because I’m going to finish him in the first two or three minutes! He has done amazing things in the sport…But we are going to fight. And when we are competing with each other, I go all in.

Ilia Topuria said in a media interview

Topuria has wreaked havoc with two top names after his overt promises, and they didn’t miss the mark much. Now, analysts, bookies, and oddsmakers are hearing him out and loud, because he is slated as a -345 favorite on the money line, per DraftKings Sportsbooks. Only time will tell if he can keep to his promises yet another time.

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