Unbeaten finishing ace, Ilia Topuria has vowed to score his third straight title fight knockout this weekend at UFC 317, once more vowing to stop and drop incoming foe, Charles Oliveira, inside just one round ahead of International Fight Week.
Topuria, a former featherweight champion, will headline the promotion’s return to a flagship setting this weekend in Las Vegas, competing for the soon-to-be vacant lightweight crown.
Seeing long-time rival, Islam Makhachev set to depart the division, the Russian will put his title up for grabs between Topuria and his former opponent, Oliveira.
And remaining as confident as ever ahead of his return against Sao Paulo star, Oliveira, Topuria has cast maybe his biggest warning to the ex-champion yet.
Finishing both Alexander Volkanovski, and Max Holloway via knockout win championship settings, Spanish megastar, Topuria has vowed to do Oliveira the same — this time in even quicker fashion, however.
Ilia Topuria vows to finish Charles Oliveira inside one round
“This is what’s going to happen with Charles (Oliveira), he thinks that he has some opportunities, but the reality is, that he has not,” Ilia Topuria told Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned this evening. “The only thing he has to do is show up. And I’m going to do the rest. I’m going to finish him in the first round.”
However, Ilia Topuria has been warned in how in the past, the likes of Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and recently, Michael Chandler have struggled to get Oliveira out of there after hurting him deep into their pairings.
But as far as he’s concerned, despite coming up from featherweight, his power is just far, far superior than his soon-to-be lightweight counterparts.
“If I hurt him, he’s not going to have the chance to come back because my power is completely different than the other guys you mentioned before,” Topuria said of Oliveira during a recent interview with MMA Junkie.
