Former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria stole the show at UFC 317 knocking out Charles Oliveira in the first round.
Topuria relinquished the 145-pound championship to move up to the 155-pound weight class with plans of becoming a two-division UFC titleholder. His plans came to fruition.
Topuria faced former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the UFC 317 main event this past Saturday and logged another knockout win over a legend. Heading into the UFC 317 title fight, Topuria was coming off knockout wins over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
Considering Topuria’s last three performances, former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley believes Topuria has solidified himself as one of the greats.
“He’s up there with Jon Jones. Knocked out Volk. Knocked out Max. Knocked out Charles,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “F**king knocking out Volk, knocking out Holloway then knocking out Charles is f**king insane. Ilia is a f**king superstar.”
“Ilia’s just that f**king good. He landed a clean right hand. The right hand knocked him out. The left hook just made it f**king worse. Holy sh*t. That was crazy,” continued O’Malley. “Charles gets hit in a lot of his fights. That was just Ilia being that f**king good. That was f**king insane. Just sat on a right hand, left hook.”
Related: Ilia Topura vs. Charles Oliveira full UFC 317 fight video
Topuria made his professional mixed martial arts debut in April 2015 and reeled off seven consecutive submission wins to start his career. Four of his next five fights ended in knockouts. His last three fights have been knockout wins over champions or former titleholders.
The 28 year-old Topuria indicated that he’d be willing to fight again this year during the UFC 317 Post-Fight Press Conference and has an opponent in mind. “El Matador” wants to face Paddy Pimblett next. O’Malley believes a fight between Pimblett and Topuria is the biggest lightweight bout the fight promotion can make.
