Ilia Topuria has parted ways with his longtime coaches just weeks before his UFC 317 lightweight title fight.
Topuria fights Charles Oliveira on June 29 with the chance to become the new king at 155lbs, four months after vacating his featherweight title.
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‘El Matador’ is midway through his training camp for the highly anticipated Las Vegas bout, but has decided to shuffle things up, according to sources, including MMA Junkie.
The 28-year-old will no longer be working with Jorge and Agustin Climent and training at the brothers’ Climent Club, which is based in Alicante, Spain.
Reports suggest the Spanish-Georgian reached the decision with his coaches by mutual agreement, but will stick with his boxing coach, Javi Climent, as he was not associated with Climent Club.
Topuria, alongside his brother, Aleksandre Topuria, who made his UFC debut in February, will reportedly now train at a private home gym with one another.
The move comes as the Topuria brothers have decided to relocate to Madrid, meaning that training in Alicante, which is over 400 km away from the Spanish capital, was no longer feasible.
Topuria dropped his featherweight strap in February to move up 10 lbs and contest for the lightweight belt.
He shockingly knocked out Alexander Volkanovski, who is now the featherweight champion, in February 2024 to win his first UFC title.
Eight months later, he handed Max Holloway the first knockout defeat of his stellar MMA career, and decided that enough was enough at featherweight due to the brutal weight cuts.
‘El Matador’ believes he is more of a natural fit at lightweight as he aims to become one of the very few UFC fighters to have held a title in two different divisions by defeating Oliveira.
“On June 28, another dream will come true,” Topuria wrote on social media, after the news of his main event bout with Oliveira was confirmed.
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“I’ll be the champion of the lightweight division. Charles, my apologies in advance.
“I’m just fighting for my dreams. It’s unfortunate that [Islam] Makhachev ran away. 17-0.”
Topuria was rumoured to lock horns with Makhachev in his first fight following the switch to lightweight.
However, Makhachev also decided to move up a weight division following UFC 315, and the Russian star is now likely to face welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena in October.
Oliveira, meanwhile, earned his title shot after claiming a unanimous decision win over Michael Chandler at UFC 309 last November.
He is a former lightweight champion in his own right, having stopped Chandler in their first meeting back in 2021 to win gold in Dana White’s promotion for the first time.
UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira (card so far)
Sunday, June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
Main event
Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira (lightweight title bout)
Co-main event
Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Kara-France (flyweight title bout)
Fight card
Beneil Dariush vs Renato Moicano (lightweight)
Brandon Royval vs Manel Kape (flyweight)
Paulo Costa vs Roman Kopylov (middleweight)
Jack Hermansson vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)
Jhonata Diniz vs Justin Tafa (heavyweight)
Viviane Araujo vs Tracy Cortez (women’s strawweight)
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‘Do Bronxs’ now has the opportunity to secure two-time lightweight champion status and cement his name as one of the best to ever do it at 155 lbs.
The 35-year-old vowed to bring back the belt to his native Brazil when news of his fight with Topuria was announced.
“Let’s go, we’re ready,” he said. “46 days, 46 days for this belt to go back to where it should never have left.
“We’ll focus on what matters, stay focused and make it happen.
“In reality, I’m not very focused on what [Topuria] has been doing, but [rather] on what we can get and take…
“My team will map out Topuria so that we can see which game we can play, but the whole concern in reality is what I will be able to take into the fight.
“We are more than prepared for this fight. [Topuria] is a tough opponent, but I know the firepower I have in my hands.
“I’ll go all in, I have a promise to be fulfilled and I’m going to get this belt.”
Oliveira surged back up the lightweight rankings by defeating Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 eight months after he had dropped the title to Makhachev in 2022.
But, he slipped back down after suffering a split-decision defeat to current No. 1 ranked lightweight Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300.
‘Do Bronxs’ then bounced back once again in his second UFC battle with Chandler, outpointing the American after a five-round war in his last fight to date.
