Dana White Says Ilia Topuria Could Fight On First Big Paramount+ Event

Dana White Says Ilia Topuria Could Fight On First Big Paramount+ Event

Dana White says they are now in the process of putting together the first big event to mark their broadcasting deal with Paramount+, and lightweight champion Ilia Topuria could be involved in it.

White had previously stated that they had intended to do a big event at some stage in January, the first month of the new multi-year deal, and it seems they are now turning their full attention to that.

“Literally today,” White told reporters after being asked when they would start building the card. “Matchmaking was today, and we started working on the first Paramount card today.”

When asked specifically about Topuria, who is currently waiting on his next fight, White confirmed that he is under consideration for the event.

“It’s a possibility,” White acknowledged.

At this stage it’s not clear who Topuria’s next opponent will be, though Beneil Dariush claimed a couple of days ago that he’d heard rumors Justin Gaethje could be getting the opportunity.

Other possibilities include Arman Tsarukyan, who would have to do a quick turnaround given that he fights Dan Hooker in November, while Paddy Pimblett doesn’t current have a match-up and Charles Oliveira just beat Mateusz Gamrot to reignite his title hopes.

Meanwhile, despite wanting to start the new deal with a bang, the UFC have still opted to delivered a big line-up for their last ever pay-per-view with ESPN+ in December, featuring the likes of Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan 2 and Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van, which White says is a mark of respect for their current broadcast partners.

“We’re always going to try to put on the best cards that we can,” White said. “We’ve had a great relationship with ESPN, and we were talking earlier, everybody is already starting to feel it. There’s a lot of relationships between the ESPN team that comes to all the fights and works and the UFC team, and everybody is starting to feel it coming to the end here. They’ve been great to us, and they’ve been great to the sport. We want to put on a badass last card for them.”

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About Ross Cole

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.

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