The MMA world has been waiting for Topuria's first title defense after he claimed the vacant belt with a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June. He was pushing for a super fight with Islam Makhachev, who dropped his title to move up to welterweight and won gold against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 this month.

‘El Matador’ hasn’t fought since he successfully moved up to the lightweight division and won the title in June after vacating his featherweight belt. A recent update stated that Topuria wouldn’t be fighting on the UFC’s first big event of 2026, which many believed he was being saved for.

Max Holloway has shown empathy for Ilia Topuria as the UFC lightweight champ will not compete in early 2026 due to personal issues.

Global soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo recently shared some massive news about Spanish MMA promotion The Way of the Warrior FC.

Topuria captured the lightweight title in his lone 2025 appearance with a brutal knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June. Topuria vacated the featherweight title in hopes to fight Makhachev for the 155-pound belt, but Makhachev had the same idea of making his own history.

Ilia Topuria and Cristiano Ronaldo are under the umbrella of a Spain-based MMA promotion with the latter delivering big shareholder news.

UFC CEO Dana White has confirmed that Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett will fight for the interim UFC lightweight championship at UFC 324. The card marks the UFC's first event under Paramount+, which is slated for January 24 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

New UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is still awaiting word on his first title defense but there are a lot of signs pointing towards an eventual showdown with Paddy Pimblett. It doesn’t hurt that Topuria and Pimblett have engaged in a very public war of words not to mention a physical altercation that broke out between them at a UFC event in London back in 2022.