UFC 317 is set to emanate from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the show promising a stacked card with two title fights on offer in the Lightweight and Flyweight divisions.
Alexandre Pantoja is set to defend his Flyweight World Championship against the number four-ranked flyweight in the world, Kai-Kara France. The main event, however, sees former featherweight contender Ilia Topuria continue his excellent ascent in his UFC career as he makes the step up to lightweight to face one of the most dangerous submission artists in the UFC, former Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira.
The title has been essentially vacated because Islam Makhachev decided to fight for the Welterweight title later down the line against the current champion, Jack Della Maddalena, therefore vacating the title.
Ilia Topuria "El Matador" has been on a meteoric rise through the featherweight ranks, as the Georgian mixed martial artist (fighting out of Alicante, Spain) has a perfect record of 16-0-0 in his professional career, six of which by knockout. His last two fights saw knockout finishes as Topuria beat two former lightweight contenders and featherweight champions in Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski.
Charles Oliveira was once the king of the lightweight division when he knocked out Michael Chandler early in the second round at UFC 262, to win the vacant Lightweight title and pick up the performance of the night bonus. Oliveira was stripped of the title after failing to make weight against Justin Gaethje, but lost the subsequent title fight against the recent champion, Islam Makhachev.
Charles "Do Bronx" Oliveira has a record of 35-10-0, with ten wins by knockout, his last being at UFC 289 against Beneil Dariush.