Topuria Knocks Out Oliviera to Rule UFC Lightweight

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Ilia Topuria brutally ended Charles Oliviera’s hopes of returning to the MMA pedestal with a first-round knockout win during the main event of UFC 317 on June 29, 2025, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With the victory, the Georgian power puncher just claimed the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt and is now a two-division king after previously reigning supreme in the promotion’s featherweight division.

The thousands in attendance were stunned by the outcome. For the first time in Oliviera’s professional UFC career, he was flat-out knocked out cold like that.

However, it was Oliviera who was looking to gain momentum in the first minute of action after successfully scoring a takedown attempt on Topuria.

The master of the ground game was working his magic in his familiar territory and was inches away from pulling off a leg lock submission but the strong lower body strength of Topuria helped him scramble away from danger and back up to his feet.

Soon as Topuria broke free from Oliviera’s ground damage, the complexion of the fight swung his way as he battered the former lightweight champion with a barrage of short-distanced jabs.

Oliviera answered back with his own flick punches, but Topuria dealt more damage as he caused the challenger to flinch more and duck down to avoid all the smoke.

Mayhem happened at the 2:32 mark of the opening round when Topuria landed a vicious right straight that sent Oliviera down to the canvas.

To set up the money blow, Topuria first checked Oliviera with a left hook to perfectly time the right straight that looked well-calculated as it landed straight to the jaw.

Oliviera was already knocked out cold, but Topuria made sure no comebacks would be made with two devastating hammer fists.

With the win, Topuria just extended his unbeaten streak in the UFC to 17 consecutive dubs with seven knockouts and eight submissions while Oliviera dropped to 35 wins and 11 losses.

“Thank you God. Everything that I am, everything that I have today it is because of you. All glory to God. This is the next level of the game. This is what I represent,” said Topuria during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.