Ilia Topuria dropped a bombshell in an interview earlier this week when he claimed he was planning to move up to lightweight and went on to suggest that he could even vacate his featherweight title to do so.
However, just a few days later Topuria has issued a statement that suggests that while he is weighing up his options, he’s not going to give up his 145lb title after all.
“I will not leave the title vacant,” Topuria wrote on X. “The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven’t had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere.
“I have conquered my division and I will do the same in the next one.”
Topuria had suggested that he wanted to fight Charles Oliveira at 155lbs next in the hopes of then getting a shot at the belt after that, but it’s not clear how that would work now that he’s claiming he also wants to remain 145lb champion as well.
The reality is that though Topuria has now KO’d the current No.1 and No.2 featherweight contenders in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway this year, he does still have plenty of challenges left in the division, with the 3rd placed Diego Lopes currently riding a five-fight winning streak, while the 4th ranked Movsar Evloev is unbeaten in his entire 19-0 career, with nine of those victories coming in the Octagon.
