Ilia Topuria responds to Charles Oliveira
calling his comments ‚disrespectful‘:„I haven’t dissed [Charles], I’ve told the truth. He has 10
losses…He says [lightweight] is the toughest division there is. When he
was fighting at 145, Cub Swanson beat him up.“ 😳— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
March 30, 2025
Ilia
Topuria denies being disrespectful toward Charles
Oliveira.
Topuria recently vacated his featherweight title and announced a
move to lightweight. While “La Leyenda” is rallying for an
immediate lightweight title shot, champ Islam
Makhachev isn’t willing to give him one. Perennial contender
Oliveira also said that he will only consider a matchup against
Topuria once the latter proves himself at lightweight.
Topuria took a dig at Oliveira’s resume in response, pointing out
the Brazilian’s losses. “Do Bronx” found Topuria’s comments to be
disrespectful towards the entire lightweight division, which is
often considered the toughest on the entire
UFC roster. However, Topuria doesn’t think he was being
disrespectful by shedding light on Oliveira’s losses.
Topuria dismissed the notion of the lightweight division being
tougher than other divisions. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard
noted that Oliveira only realized his championship dream after
moving up from 145 pounds to 155 pounds. Topuria further clarified
that he doesn’t have any personal enmity against Oliveira and
wouldn’t mind spending some time together after the end of their
careers.
“I haven’t dissed [Charles], I’ve told the truth,” Topuria said
(video via Marca). “He has 10 losses. I haven’t said anything
else. He has 10 losses, five by knockout, four by submission, one
by decision. He says [lightweight] is the toughest division there
is. When he was fighting at 145 [pounds], even Cub Swanson
beat him up. That’s where the conversation ends.
“Something he couldn’t achieve at 145 pounds, he did at 155, where
he became champion. So why is that division tougher than the one I
come from? I don’t find any logic in it. And that’s also why I said
it seems like he hasn’t read a single page of a newspaper. So if
that’s disrespectful, I don’t know since when telling the truth is
disrespectful.”
Topuria won the title against Alexander
Volkanovski and defended it against Max
Holloway last year before moving up to lightweight. Meanwhile,
Oliveira has gone 2-2 in his last four and comes off a unanimous
decision win over Michael
Chandler.