A few months ago, Ilia Topuria decided that staying at featherweight made no sense to him since he beat two of the best 145ers ever and wanted to avoid the grueling 40lbs weight cut, which wasn’t doing him any good. So, a new challenge was what ‘La Leyenda’ wanted, and hence, he made the jump to the shark-infested lightweight division. Now, we have confirmation as to when Topuria will make his 155lbs return.

We already know that Topuria is going to make his way inside the Octagon when he tweeted, “The camp has begun,” not too long ago. And when speculations started taking shape, many believed that he might be returning in June, and it turned out to be true. Initially, there was a major matchup planned for the middleweight title between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev during International Fight Week, but reports of a possible injury to the champion made the plans uncertain.

However, Du Plessis would break his silence, claiming that he’s not injured and that his bout with the Chechen is official. However, it was made clear by the champion and later Dana White at the UFC Kansas City presser that it wouldn’t go down in June.

Now, as fresh reports surfaced online, it appears that Topuria received the Grand Cross recognition in Madrid recently. And while he’s busy training, he issued an apology for his absence, promising to give fans a good performance during International Fight Week at UFC 317. “I have got preparations ahead. I hope to make you all happy again on June 28th,” Topuria stated during an interview with ‘TeleMadrid’. (Translated by ‘Red Corner MMA’)

However, ‘Le Leyenda’ did not mention who he’s fighting. While he’s been calling for a title fight against Islam Makhachev, the Dagestan native has kept his mouth zipped about what’s next for him, and if it’s Topuria with whom he’ll put his title up for grabs for a record fifth time.

While people are hoping that maybe Ilia Topuria could end up fighting Makhachev, there’s another former champion who changed his tune on his views about fighting the Georgian-Spaniard. He now wants that fight. Here’s what he had to say!

Team Charles Oliveira expresses the wish to fight Ilia Topuria

Well, it was not Charles Oliveira who claimed he wants to fight Ilia Topuria, it was his coach, Diego Lima. After all, ‘Do Bronx’ wanted ‘Le Leyenda’ to prove himself in the lightweight division, and only after that, he might consider butting heads against the Georgian-Spanish star. However, his coach sees a fight against Topuria differently, and even though Oliveira wants the belt, fighting the former featherweight champion, according to Lima, will make more buzz.

“Charles wants to fight for the belt, no matter if it’s against Topuria or [Islam] Makhachev,” Lima said. “But since you asked me who would be a better selling fight, I have to answer Topuria,” Charles Oliveira’s coach told ‘Sherdog’. “He is doing an excellent job promoting his arrival in the new division. On the other hand, Makhachev disappeared a little bit from the spotlight with his indecision.”

Well, it seems unlikely that Dana White will make the 155lbs title bout in perhaps the Super Bowl event of the UFC during International Fight Week. Hence, the notion that people have regarding Ilia Topuria’s UFC 317 fight is that he could be fighting Islam Makhachev for the lightweight strap.

But we can’t be too sure unless we have confirmation from the UFC. We’ll surely be getting more updates on Ilia Topuria’s UFC 317 fight in the coming days, as there’s a strong possibility that he might be headlining the fight. What do you think? Drop your comments below.