UFC 317: Arman Tsarukyan To Serve As Main Event Backup
If Ilia Topuria or Charles Oliveira cannot make it to the Octagon on June 28 for their lightweight title fight in the main event of UFC 317, Arman Tsarukyan will be on hand to serve as the backup.
Tsarukyan, who is the No. 1 fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings, announced his backup role, earlier this week on social media (via MMA Fighting).
The UFC had booked Tsarukyan opposite then-UFC champ Islam Makhachev at UFC 311. However, while cutting weight for the January 18, 2025, fight card, Tsarukyan suffered a back injury. He was forced from the card on weigh-in day and was replaced by Renato Moicano, who Makhachev submitted in the late stages of the first round.
Tsarukyan's injury did not sit well with the UFC brass. Following the event, UFC CEO Dana White declared that Tsarukyan would have to wait for a title shot.
'He's going back to the drawing board,' White said at the UFC 311 post-fight press conference. 'I don't want anybody to fight hurt, ever. We've been in these positions before. We're down there with the doctor, with Heather from (the UFC Performance Institute). You can ask any fighter – she's the best in the world. You miss opportunities sometimes, and he did. We'll see how this plays out for him next year.'
'He's not getting the title shot, that means he's going to have to fight his way back to the title,' White added.
Tsarukyan, who is on a four-fight winning streak, has not fought since UFC 311, so it seems as if White and the UFC may be softening their stance on the fighter and perhaps giving him a test run to see if he can make it to the scale for UFC 317. Tsarukyan's most recent outing was a April 2024 split-decision win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300.
Ilia Topuria (16-0) is a former Cage Warriors champion. He joined the UFC in 2020 with a 9-0 record. It did not take him long to make a name for himself. He was ranked No. 14 in the featherweight division after three UFC bouts at 145 pounds and one contest in the 155-pound division. Three of those scraps ended with Topuria winning via knockout.
In his first fight as a ranked featherweight, Topuria dispatched Bryce Mitchell via submission in the second round, earned his first 'Performance of the Night' bonus and moved to No. 9 in the rankings.
A matchup with No. 5 ranked Josh Emmett followed the Mitchell win. Topuria picked up a decision in a 'Fight of the Night' scrap. Topuria's next fight, saw him face Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 298. Topuria entered that bout as the No. 3 ranked featherweight. He left as the champion after knocking out Volkanovski in the second stanza.
In his first defense of the UFC featherweight crown, Topuria made history, becoming the first fighter to finish former 145-pound champion Max Holloway via strikes, knocking out the ex-champion in the third round of their UFC 308 meeting in October 2024.
When Topuria decided to move to lightweight and give up his featherweight title, he vowed to sit until he got a 155-pound title shot. That fight takes place at UFC 317.
Topuria has a 16-0 record with eight of those wins coming under the UFC banner.
Charles Oliveira (35-10-0-1) has been fighting with the UFC since 2010. He won the vacant lightweight title with his win over Chandler and defended the title once, beating Dustin Poirier. He was booked to face Justin Gaethje in his second title defense, but Oliveira missed weight for that fight, which he won by submission, losing the title on the scale.
Oliveira had a chance to regain the belt in October 2022, but Islam Makhachev submitted him and claimed the vacant belt. Since that loss, Oliveira is 1-1, beating Beneil Dariush by TKO in June 2023 and losing to Arman Tsarukyan via split decision in April of this year.
Oliveira is coming off a November 2024 decision win over Michael Chandler.
Oliveira is the No. 2 fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings.
We will have more on the UFC 317 fight card as fight night approaches.
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