Ilia Topuria seems to have the MMA world at his feet right now after back-to-back victories over two of the greatest featherweights of all time. The Spaniard defeated Alexander Volkanovski at the beginning of 2024 to claim the UFC featherweight title and shocked the world in October by becoming the first man to knock out Max Holloway. Despite being not even a year into his reign as king of the featherweight division, ‘El Matador’ has revealed that his days at 145 pounds are numbered.
During an appearance on the El Partidazo de COPE podcast, Topuria opened up about his desire to move up to lightweight and how much longer he thinks he has left in the sport of MMA.
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Ilia Topuria Targets Huge Fight Against Charles Oliveira
‘El Matador’ is eyeing a title eliminator bout against the Brazilian fan favourite
Despite being just one defence into his UFC featherweight title reign, Ilia Topuria has his eyes set on a move up to the lightweight division and has pitched a potential bout against the division’s former champion, Charles Oliveira. Speaking on Spanish podcast, El Partidazo de COPE, ‘El Matador’ stated that it is “very likely” he has fought his last fight at featherweight and revealed that he would like to fight Oliveira in his lightweight return in April or May next year.
“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. I’d like to move up to the next weight class, and since Islam is the champion fighting in January and he won’t be ready for April or May, I’d like to fight against the number one contender right now, who’s Charles Oliveira.”
After Topuria’s first featherweight title defence against Max Holloway in October, it was rumoured that his next fight would be a rematch against Alexander Volkanovski, with that fight potentially taking place in Spain. The Spaniard now seems to have had his head turned towards a huge lightweight title eliminator fight against ‘Do Bronx’ which would be one of the biggest fights in the division’s history and a bout that every fan would love to see.
It is worth noting that Topuria has indeed fought at lightweight before and he produced one of his best KO’s at the weight when he put Jai Herbert out cold at UFC London in 2022.
Ilia Topuria Reveals Shock Retirement Plans
2027 may be the year ‘El Matador’ hangs up his gloves
Make the most of Ilia Topuria while you can because he may not have that long left in the sport of MMA despite being just 27 years old. Once again, speaking on Spanish podcast, El Partidazo de COPE, the Spaniard revealed that the current state of the UFC featherweight division doesn’t motivate him and he plans to retire from MMA at 30 years old, which is in just three years.
“I’m 27. I hope to be out by 30. Right now, in my division I no longer have the motivation to defend the belt anymore. Now I want to move up a category and we’ll see how everything goes.”
Topuria has always been candid about wanting to make a lot of money and get out of combat sports while he is young and healthy which is obviously fantastic for himself, however, these comments will understandably upset fight fans as he is one of the biggest and most entertaining stars in the UFC right now.
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Ilia Topuria’s professional MMA record (as of 10.12.24) |
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|---|---|---|
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16 Fights |
16 Wins |
0 Losses |
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By Knockout |
6 |
0 |
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By Submission |
8 |
0 |
|
By Decision |
2 |
0 |
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