As the Australian striker Jack Della Maddalena demolished Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 315, he opened the doors for two titans of the UFC to finally get their shot at a title above their weight class. We’re talking about Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev. For months, we anticipated a clash between the two, but after Belal’s dethroning, Islam did not have a friend as a challenger for the 170-pound bout, as he vacated the 155-pound gold just like Topuria did with his 145-pound gold.

For now, Makhachev’s clash with Maddalena isn’t official, however, Topuria’s is. At UFC 317, during the International Fight Week, Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria will go up against former lightweight champion Charles ‘Do Bronxs’ Oliveira. The fight news quickly generated a buzz throughout the MMA community, generating millions of reactions. Among them was the Scouser talking about Ilia’s chances against Charles. He acknowledges the threat of Topuria’s power and Charles’ vulnerability to being knocked down, while also highlighting the fight day size difference as a huge factor.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett told TNT Sports, ” I think he might, to be honest. Charles is a bit chinny, isn’t he? Do you know what I mean? He’s had about forty fights or something. He always gets punched. He always gets cracked. If he gets him down, I can see him winning because that 10lbs difference is a big difference. 145 to 155. It’s a big difference. People don’t understand that because they don’t watch the sport or they are not involved in the sport. But that 10 lbs makes a big difference. Especially like, Charles is like my height. Ilia is like, down here, when I stand up. Do you know what I mean?” 

The Scouser even used his own fight experiences as an example to talk about the size factor, further explaining, “So, it’s going to make a big difference. Like, Ilia might get a bit of a fright at how big Charles is when he stands opposite to him. Fighters do that with me, who fight at lightweight. I’ll never forget Bobby Green looking over at me and me being like “what? He’s big him.” Same with Chandler. Like f***. Like people thought Chandler was going to be bigger than m,e and he just weren’t.”

Indeed, for a featherweight to move up to lightweight is going to be a very tough challenge. But it has been done before, and even with the size difference, even Pimblett believes Topuria has all the weapons to beat Oliveira and become the new lightweight champion of the UFC.

So, will Ilia Topuria be able to beat Charles Oliveira and finally sit on the throne he has waited so long for? While that is a mystery to be solved at UFC 317, let’s take a look at the past instances where a UFC featherweight champion has attempted to capture the welterweight throne.

A featherweight’s quest for the lightweight gold: A repetitive scenario in the modern days of UFC

As history is evident, Topuria isn’t the first featherweight to move up to fight for the lightweight throne. The freshest memory reminds us of the two fights between Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev, held first at UFC 284 and the second at UFC 294. In their first bout, fans could not believe that Volkanovski did not win the lightweight gold over Makhachev, as the Dagestani was given the toughest challenge in his 155-pound throne’s reign. However, for their second bout, Volk stepped in on short notice of 12 days to replace the withdrawing Charles Olivera. In this encounter, Volkanovski was brutally finished by Makhachev in RD 1.

The transition, however, wasn’t so easy for one of the greatest featherweights ever, Max Holloway. As the featherweight champion, after garnering three title defenses by beating Jose Aldo twice and then Brian Ortega, Holloway went against Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier at UFC 236. And even after delivering one of the best fights of the year, the Hawaiian MMA sensation lost to Poirier by a unanimous decision.

But considered by many the greatest moment of the UFC’s history came through this very transition, too. Now a mega-star with a large empire, the Irishman once used to be a fighter motivated to jump beyond all expectations of him. In the process, he dominated the featherweight division towards a title shot to face ‘The King of Rio, ‘ whom he finished in 13 seconds to take the gold. After this, at UFC 205, came the most iconic moment of the UFC to date.

The ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor knocked out the lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez by a KO victory in the third round. In the process, McGregor became the first UFC fighter to hold championships in two divisions simultaneously. A moment etched in the history of the UFC’s most superior brackets, many have tried to reach stardom, but their grit failed.

Ilia Topuria’s run is very similar to McGregor’s. After decimating his featherweight rivals and two all-time greats in Holloway and Volkanovski at 145, he moves to 155 to capture the gold there. McGregor was successful, will the fate be the same for ‘El Matador’? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.