Ilia Topuria makes tongue-in-cheek Charles Oliveira vow ‘because I like him a lot’

Ilia Topuria has vowed to beat Charles Oliveira in the “least painful” way possible when the pair clash over the vacant UFC lightweight title.

In the main event of UFC 317 in June, Topuria aims to become a two-weight champion, while Oliveira looks to regain the belt he held between 2021 and 2022.

Topuria vacated the featherweight title in February to chase lightweight gold, while 155lb champion Islam Makhachev did the same this week to pursue the welterweight belt. As such, Topuria was paired with Oliveira.

“I feel sorry for Charles,” Topuria told Alvaro Colmenero. “Whatever is least painful for him, that’s what I’ll do, because I like him a lot.”

While the Georgian-Spaniard’s comments were tongue in cheek, they were nevertheless kinder than the words he had for Makhachev.

“He is the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen,” Topuria, 28, told Colmenero. “He said he didn’t want to give me the opportunity [in a lightweight title fight] because I was the little guy, and now the little guy is the one looking for the same opportunity I was looking for...

“Ali [Abdelaziz, Makachev’s manager] should thank me for not beating his star. That’s the fight everyone wanted to see. I put everything I could on the table, and they ran away. Why chase? If someone runs away, you don’t have to bully them. I don’t want to fight people who don’t want to fight me either.”

Makhachev broke the record for successful UFC lightweight title defences in January, as he submitted Renato Moicano to retain the belt for the fourth time.

The Russian, 33, previously retained the gold with a submission of Dustin Poirier in June and two wins over Alexander Volkanovski in 2023. Volkanovski, who was featherweight champion at the time, was outpointed by Makhachev in their first bout and knocked out in their rematch.

Meanwhile, Topuria knocked out Volkanovski last February to win the 145lb title, before retaining it with a knockout of former champion Max Holloway in October.

When Topuria faces Oliveira, he will look to stay unbeaten. Oliveira, meanwhile, has tasted defeat 10 times as a professional, but the Brazilian’s best run took him to the lightweight strap in 2021, when he knocked out Michael Chandler before submitting Poirier to keep the gold.

In 2022, Oliveira lost the title on the scales, narrowly missing weight the day before a planned defence against Justin Gaethje. Oliveira submitted Gaethje to set up a vacant-title fight with Makhachev, who submitted the 35-year-old to begin his dominant reign.