UFC 317 Preview
The UFC is returning to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, June 28 for UFC 317. The main event will be for the lightweight championship as former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will battle former lightweight champion #2 Charles Oliveira.
Topuria is undefeated and is coming off a third round TKO victory over legend Max Holloway in his only defense of the featherweight title. He won the belt with a devastating second round KO victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. He vacated the title for a chance to move up to lightweight and become a two-weight champion.
How does the Spanish fighter feel about moving up a weight class? “The reality is I belong (in) this weight division,” Topuria said. “My muscle is on point, my power’s on point, everything is on point.”
Topuria looked like he was on track to become one of the greatest featherweight champions of all-time, but he believes he will be a better fighter at 155 pounds. “I think that I am a better fighter right now,” Topuria said. “More mature, more experienced. You’re going to see, for sure, a better version of myself, Topuria said.
"When I was fighting in the featherweight division at this point, I was feeling really, really bad. I think I made a great decision. This is one of the best training camps that I’ve ever had.”
The 28-year-old has a prediction for the fight on Saturday. "From the first second, he's going to feel the speed and the power. He's going to start to look for the takedowns and for the ground game. But I think that it's going to be very, very quick, because I'm going to finish him in the in the first two or three minutes.
"He has done amazing things in the sport. I respect him as a sportsman. As a human being, he seems to be a nice guy. But we are going to fight. And when we are competing with each other, I go all in. Just be careful,” said Topuria.
Oliveira is 2-2 in his last four fights with one of the losses being to Islam Makhachev for the vacant lightweight title that was stripped from Oliveira when he missed weight at UFC 274 in 2022. He most recently defeated Michael Chandler for the second time at UFC 309 in November.
The former champion knows what type of challenge he faces in Topuria. “A guy that continues to be thirsty, a guy who is hungry for the win,” said Oliveira. “Yeah, he is younger, comes in undefeated. But does he want it more than I do, does he have more hunger and more thirst than I have?
“This is for my legacy, this is for my history. I’m ready for this fight.”
While he knows Topuria is worthy of the title shot, Oliveira believes he will get back the lightweight belt. “It’s something emotional,” Oliveira said. “I have all the confidence in the world that on Saturday, you’re going to hear Charles Oliveira is the champion, and I’m going to be the champion once again.”
The Brazilian believes in the strategy that once made him champion. “It’s always just push forward, walk forward and charge forward,” Oliveira said. “That’s what I do. It’s just: be myself and do that. I’ve worked a lot to become a champion, to be a champion and I’m sure I’m going to be a champion again.”
Oliveira is trying to go down as one of the greatest lightweights ever. “I came to the UFC to make history,” he said. “I am illuminated. I tell people to listen to what I’m saying: ‘I’m going to be a champion again. I’m going to become a champion once again.’”
The co-main event will be for the flyweight title as champion Alexandre Pantoja will defend his belt against #4 Kai Kara-France.
Pantoja has won his last seven fights and this will be his fourth defense of the title. He most recently defeated Kai Sakura by second round submission at UFC 310 in December. The 35-year-old believes Kara-France comes into this fight extra motivated.
"I see the different things that Kai Kara-France has. He has a family right now. He has kids. He has a reason to fight. And because I think about that, I think that's good (motivation) for me.
"All the time, I (look at) my opponent as the best in the world. That's why I'm training so hard for this moment. But I'm going to still be with this belt. The same thing happened in 2016, when I beat Kai. Now I want to beat Kai in 2025,” Pantoja said.
The champion has respect for his opponents abilities. "Kai has some of the best takedown defense in the whole division. That's so nice to have one guy like that, because everybody knows how my grappling is working in the Octagon, and that's a good challenge," he said.
Pantoja continued, "But I don't just focus on my grappling. I fight MMA, and I put everything together. Maybe people don't realize how hard I punch, but maybe you will see that in this fight. Kai is going to feel my hands, too.”
The Brazilian concluded, "Kai Kara-France showed to everybody that he's a high-level fighter. But I think I can win the fight, whatever the zone – grappling, striking.
"I have five rounds to prove to all the world that I'm the best fighter in the division. All the time, I say that it's a new chance (to prove that). I don't feel like I'm champion of the world right now. I want to show for myself that I'm champion of the world on June 28.”
Kara-France is 4-2 in his last six fights and most recently defeated Steve Erceg by first round TKO at UFC 305 last August. He fought for the interim title in 2022 but lost by third round TKO to two-time champion Brandon Moreno.
The 32-year-old believes he is a bad matchup for the champion. “Sylistically, this is a tough matchup, not just for myself but for him as well. If he tries to get me to the ground, he can’t keep me there. I’m too quick, I’m too fast,” Kara-France said. “I’ve got one of the best takedown defenses in this flyweight division. Pantoja’s biggest weakness is that he will be too stubborn, and he will try to walk me down, and eventually, he will get sloppy.
“One thing I always have in my back pocket is that I can finish the fight whenever,” Kara-France added. “In a division, there are not many knockouts; I’ve got 12 of them. Fighting for a world title, I’m excited because this is 15 years of fighting. It’s a long time to work on one goal, a goal I haven’t ticked off. I want to be the first one to knock him out in the UFC flyweight division. And, bring another belt back to New Zealand. That’s what I’m chasing.”
The rest of the main card:
Renato Moicano -148 vs. Beneil Dariush +116, lightweights
Brandon Royval -120 vs. Joshua Van +100, flyweights
Payton Talbott vs. Felipe Lima, bantamweights
ESPN+ Prelims:
Gregory Rodrigues -186 vs. Jack Hermansson +148, middleweights
Jose Delgado -167 vs. Hyder Amil +133, featherweights
Tracy Cortez -240 vs. Viviane Araujo +180, women's strawweights
Terrance McKinney -195 vs. Viacheslav Borschev +155, lightweights
Jhonata Diniz -265 vs. Alvin Hines +200, heavyweights
Jacobe Smith -1667 vs. Niko Price +950, welterweights
