Charles
Oliveira has opened as a massive betting underdog against
Ilia
Topuria.
Islam
Makhachev vacated his lightweight title and moved up to
welterweight to challenge Jack
Della Maddalena after the Australian dethroned his friend
Belal
Muhammad at
UFC 315. Makhachev would have defended his lightweight title
against Ilia
Topuria had Muhammad retained his belt.
However, Topuria (16-0) will now fight former champ Charles
Oliveira (35-10) for the vacant 155-pound title in the UFC 317
main event on June 28 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Topuria also
recently vacated his featherweight crown in pursuit of a
lightweight strap.
Oliveira has opened as a massive +250 underdog on most sportsbooks
while Topuria is a -300 favorite. Despite this being Topuria’s
debut against a former champ, the odds speak of how highly “La
Leyenda” is regarded. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard has finished
14 of his 16 pro wins, 8 of which came in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. Topuria won the featherweight
title by knocking out Alexander
Volkanovski last year and defended it by handing Max
Holloway his first-ever knockout loss before moving up.
Meanwhile, Oliveira won the lightweight strap against Michael
Chandler in 2021 and defended it twice before losing it to
Islam
Makhachev in 2022. Oliveira has since sandwiched a loss against
Arman
Tsarukyan between wins over Beneil
Dariush and Chandler.