By Jon Johnson
LAS VEGAS – UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena saw a record-breaking performance as former Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria (17-0) became the first undefeated UFC Champion in two weight divisions when he knocked out Charles Oliveria (35-11) with strikes at 2:27 in the first round to capture the vacant Lightweight belt.
The ending of Oliveira might not bode well for his former Lightweight Championship opponent, Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje, who reportedly felt a little overlooked for not having his title shot. A rematch with Oliveria would have made simple sense. Still, with Topuria coming out as champion and his hatred for the “Scouser” Paddy Pimblett evident, Gaethje might be left out of the next title fight again.
The Topuria/Oliveria fight was close at first, with Topuria landing an early shot that cut Oliveria under his left eye. The match went to the ground, and Topuria showed his grappling game with side control before Oliveria went for a leg submission.
Topuria escaped and got to his feet while Oliveria stayed on the ground, baiting Topuria to join him. Instead, Topuria gave a couple of kicks and told Oliveria to get up, which the referee eventually made him do to reengage the fight. It wasn’t long after that when Topuria landed a right that put Oliveria’s lights out and ended the match.
The move Olivia did lying on the ground instantly took me back to May 7, 2022, at UFC 274 in Phoenix, where I was covering Gaethje’s lightweight title shot against Oliveira.
Twice in that opening round, Gaethje’s left hook found its home and rocked Oliveria to the ground, where he stuck his legs in the air, waiting.
Justin kept the fight on the feet, however, and Oliveria landed a right that stunned Gaethje enough to allow Oliveria to get in position behind and finish the fight with a rear-naked choke.
After the Oliveria loss, Gaethje has defeated Rafael Fiziev by decision twice (March 18, 2023 and March 8, 2025), and in between the Fiziev fights had an extreme high when he knocked out Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier with a head kick in Salt Lake City on July 29, 2023 to win the BMF belt, and then an extreme low when Max Holloway had the knockout of the year at UFC 300 when he put Gaethje to sleep in the final seconds as both men met at the center of the ring.
No. 2-ranked Gaethje (26-5) has called for a title shot in his next fight or has hinted at retirement. Previously, upcoming fighter No. 8 ranked Paddy Pimblett (23-3) had called for a battle against Gaethje. However, after Topuria called Pimblett out at UFC 317 in Las Vegas on Saturday night and shoved him, it became evident that Pimblett not only jumped into the ring but also jumped Gaethje for a title shot.
Topuria and Pimblett have a history of traded barbs, and the interaction at UFC 317, with Gaethje in attendance to watch, seems to signal an obvious match.
However, UFC CEO Dana White would not commit to sanctioning the fight at this time. But with Topuria being undefeated and having a deep hatred for Pimblett, White might have to acquiesce to his demand for “The Baddy” to be his next opponent instead of Gaethje.
So, what does that mean for Justin? Does he hit the links for a few more months, handle his other businesses and ventures while he waits for his title shot? Or does he take a non-title fight – something he said he wasn’t likely to do? Or does he pull a Jon Jones and say that’s it, time to move on? Or is Jon Jones even really retired?
During a post-match press conference, Dana White called Gaethje’s supposed ultimatum “wacky.”
“Listen, if you’re thinking about retiring, you know how I feel about that; you should probably retire,” White said. “We love Justin Gaethje and Gaethje did step up (for UFC 300) and he’s been an exciting and fun fighter to have here in the UFC, but to say unless you give me a title shot otherwise I’m retiring, that’s pretty wacky.”
I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Still, as a fan, I think it’s going to be exciting, no matter if you have one of the most jaw-dropping fighters in Gaethje in there against either Paddy or Topuria, or those two battling it out because they appear to dislike each other so much. Maybe Gaethje would take a fight with No. 1-ranked Arman Tsarukyan, with the winner taking on the winner of a Topuria/Pimblett fight. It could be interesting to watch how this all unfolds in the coming months. For his part, Topuria said he would be ready to fight again by the end of the year and stated that the fight he wants next is against Paddy the Baddy.
