Former undisputed lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira remains supremely confident of regaining the divisional crown in his vacant title charge against Ilia Topuria next month at UFC 317, vowing to hand the Spaniard his first career loss — in rather definitive fashion to boot.
Oliveira, who currently sits at number two in the official 155lbs rankings, will look to nab a vacant title for the second time in his lengthy Octagon tenure, as he prepares to take on former featherweight star, Topuria.
Sidelined since November of last year, Sao Paulo star, Oliveira, most recently returned to winning-ways in a one-sided unanimous decision win over Michael Chandler in the pair’s rematch at Madison Square Garden.
As for Topuria, the unbeaten former featherweight kingpin vacated his own belt at the beginning of this year, with the view to taking on would-be common-foe, Islam Makhachev in a super fight.
However, seeing the Russian vacate his crown at lightweight ahead of a proposed welterweight championship fight against Jack Della Maddalena, Topuria will now take on Oliveira for spoils.
Charles Oliveira vows to knock out Ilia Topuria at UFC 317
And vowing to finish Oliveira — in the least damaging avenue possible at UFC 317, his incoming foe has made his own definitive prediction.
“It’s a great fight, he’s a great fighter,” Charles Oliveira said of his pairing with Ilia Topuria in a recent clip shared by Full Violence on social media. “But I don’t need to prove anything to anyone about who I am. This fight came at a huge opportunity. I will knock out this guy. That’s for real.”
Oliveira’s comments this week follow prior claims earlier this month, too, in which he suggested he should likely have never lost his crown in his infamous weight miss against Justin Gaethje.
Before claiming the championship will return to its rightful owner come the end of International Fight Week next month.
“46 days for this belt to return where it should’ve never left,” Charles Oliveira posted on social media.
