UFC CEO Dana White took to Instagram Live on Tuesday and dropped another one of those bombs that shakes the core of MMA’s upcoming event schedule.
White made the announcement everyone was waiting for surrounding former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. The UFC star is officially moving up to lightweight, and he will face former 155-pound champion Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is International Fight Week, and the main event is a spot that is coveted and reserved for the biggest stars in the promotion.
Topuria and Oliveira will fight for the title now vacated by Islam Makhachev.
Yes, Makhachev, the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the sport, is moving up to welterweight, where he presumably will be the first title defense for new champion Jack Della Maddalena.
While Makhachev’s move up was announced, the date for his presumed title shot at 170 pounds was not made official, though most expect that to come at some point soon.
In the co-main event of UFC 317, UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja will defend his title against Kai Kara-France. That wasn’t all.
White also announced the main event for UFC 319 in Chicago at the United Center on Saturday, August 16. UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis will defend his title against Khamzat Chimaev.
The long-awaited middleweight clash is by far the most desired fight in the division, and it could be DDP’s biggest challenge yet as a professional.
With the announcements made today, here is a look at the UFC 317 card as of Tuesday, May 13:
UFC 317 Card – Saturday, June 28 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
- Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira – For Vacant UFC Lightweight Championship
- (c) Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France – UFC Men’s Flyweight Championship
- Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov – Middleweight
- Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano – Lightweight
- Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber – Lightweight
- Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape – Flyweight
- Jhonata Diniz vs. Justin Tafa – Heavyweight
- Viviane Araujo vs. Tracy Cortez – Flyweight
- Jack Hermansson vs. Gregory Rodrigues – Middleweight
There will probably be three or four more fights added to this card to bring it to 12 or 13 bouts.
As for UFC 319, DDP vs. Chimaev is the only fight official or even strongly rumored. I’d expect to see fights lined up for that card soon. It’s possible winners and losers from UFC 315 could find themselves on that show.
Keep an eye out for a potentially quick turnaround for Valentina Shevchenko if she is ready to defend her title against Weili Zhang. The latter is expected to move up from strawweight to challenge for the flyweight title. However, this is a fight that could also take place at Noche UFC 2025 in September.
It will be interesting to see if the UFC goes for a second championship fight for this show, considering it has had dual title fights on five of the first seven pay-per-view cards this year. UFC 316 will likely be main-evented by Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway for the BMF title, but there is no word on whether an actual championship will be at stake in the co-main event.
In any case, the summer lineup of fights is looking exciting for the UFC.
