3 biggest storylines ahead of UFC 317
International Fight Week is upon us.
In Saturday's UFC 317 main event, Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira will meet for the vacant lightweight title. And in the co-headliner, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja will put his belt on the line for the fourth time against Kai Kara-France.
Here are three key storylines ahead of the UFC's return to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
How will Topuria fare at lightweight?
Topuria is heavily favored to beat Oliveira, win the lightweight title, and become the 10th two-division champion in UFC history. He's around a 5-to-1 favorite on theScore Bet. But fans shouldn't be too confident that the 28-year-old Georgian-Spaniard will bring home another belt.
Sure, Topuria is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA and is coming off an impressive campaign last year in which he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. But he's also moving up to the lightweight division for just the second time in his career. And it's a whole new ballgame at 155 pounds.
Oliveira has a significant size advantage over Topuria. The former lightweight champion is 5-foot-10 with a 74-inch reach, while Topuria, a former champ at 145 pounds, is 5-foot-7 with a 69-inch reach. Topuria will need to rely on his power and hand speed to get past Oliveira and everyone else he faces moving forward.
Does Oliveira have one last title run in him?
Just a few years ago, Oliveira was the guy to beat at 155 pounds. He knocked out Michael Chandler in May 2021 to capture the vacant title and then finished Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje to cement himself as the top lightweight in the world.
Since then, he's 2-2 and is coming off another dominant win over Chandler at UFC 309 last November.
At 35 years old and having been in the UFC since 2010, Oliveira is, of course, closer to the end of his career than the start of it. However, he's still ranked No. 2 in the division and remains a threat in every area. If he has one more title run left in him, this is his opportunity to show it.
Will Pantoja continue to clean out the 125-pound division?
After Jon Jones retired last weekend, Pantoja became the second-longest-reigning champion in the UFC (not including Islam Makhachev, who will officially vacate the lightweight title Saturday). Pantoja has held the flyweight belt since July 2023. It's a testament to how volatile the sport has been in recent years, but it's also an indication that Pantoja has turned into a rather dominant champion.
The Brazilian is looking to keep things going against Kara-France in Saturday's co-main event. If he wins, he'll have beaten three of the top five flyweights (the other two of which are coming off losses) and half of the top 10. Pantoja has almost no chance of catching Demetrious Johnson's title-defense record, but he's quietly putting together one of the most impressive reigns in flyweight history. If the wins keep coming, it wouldn't be surprising to see Pantoja move up to challenge bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili within the next year.