{"id":34764,"date":"2025-03-30T12:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T11:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=34764"},"modified":"2025-03-30T12:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T11:25:21","slug":"ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria Reveals The \u201cPromise\u201d Made With Him In Exchange For Giving Up The Featherweight Belt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>February 2025 marked a seismic shift in the <a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/mma\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>UFC<\/a> featherweight division. The man who had dethroned Alexander Volkanovski in spectacular fashion just months earlier, made a decision that left everyone speechless. Ilia Topuria vacated his 145-pound title with no warning. The Spanish-Georgian fighter had barely warmed the throne, defending his belt just once against Max Holloway. His reign ended almost as quickly as it began, leaving the division in disarray and creating rumors throughout the MMA world about his true motives.<\/p><p>Topuria&rsquo;s sudden departure from the division had people questioning his commitment. Was it weight cutting issues? Had he fallen out with UFC management? Was there a personal problem fans didn&rsquo;t know about? The mystery only deepened. Now, he himself has come forward with the real reason why he gave up the belt.<\/p><p>Also Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-names-these-2-lightweights-as-his-next-potential-opponents\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>Ilia Topuria Names These 2 Lightweights As His Next Potential Opponents<\/a><\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ilia Topuria Reveals The &ldquo;Promise&rdquo;<\/h2><p>Recently at WOW 17, Topuria finally broke his silence about what prompted his surprising decision. This reason clarified that Topuria hadn&rsquo;t abandoned his featherweight title on a whim. There was a calculated agreement with UFC brass behind the scenes.<\/p><p><strong><em>&ldquo;The UFC promised me I&rsquo;d fight for the belt. That&rsquo;s why I vacated it. And they&rsquo;ve always kept their promise.&rdquo;<\/em><\/strong><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#128680; Ilia Topuria says he vacated the FW title because the UFC promised him a title fight<br><br>\"The UFC promised me I'd fight for the belt. That's why I vacated it. And they've always kept their promise.\"<br><br>&#128064;&#128064;<br><br>via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IratiPratSC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>@IratiPratSC<\/a> h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Infinity_MMA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>@Infinity_MMA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XgiK6MeGVg\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/XgiK6MeGVg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; ACD MMA (@acdmma_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/acdmma_\/status\/1906135224318042432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>March 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>The promotion had apparently guaranteed him an immediate title shot at 155 pounds if he relinquished his current belt. This was an offer too enticing for the ambitious champion to refuse.<\/p><p>The lightweight division is arguably the UFC&rsquo;s most talent-rich weight class, featuring killers like Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Mateusz Gamrot who have all been campaigning for their shot at Islam Makhachev&rsquo;s crown. Topuria potentially leapfrogging this entire murderer&rsquo;s row has understandably ruffled some feathers among both fighters and fans.<\/p><p>The potential matchup between Topuria and Makhachev presents a fascinating clash of styles. Makhachev&rsquo;s suffocating Dagestani wrestling against Topuria&rsquo;s crisp boxing and submission skills creates one of the most intriguing champion vs. champion fights in recent memory.<\/p><p>The UFC hasn&rsquo;t officially announced the fight yet. If Topuria succeeds where others like Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski have failed, he would cement himself as one of the greatest fighters of his generation. The chance to become two-division UFC champion is a risk worth taking for the 28-year-old star. Whether this gamble pays off or backfires spectacularly remains to be seen!<\/p><p><strong>(Image Credit: Corey Perrine\/Florid &ndash; Imagn Images)<\/strong><br><br><\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ilia Topuria finally reveals the real reason about why he vacated the featherweight belt after just one title defense!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":34781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1783],"tags":[1963,1821],"class_list":["post-34764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mma","tag-ilia-topuria","tag-islam-makhachev"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ilia Topuria Reveals The &ldquo;Promise&rdquo; Made With Him In Exchange For Giving Up The Featherweight Belt - The Playoffs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ilia Topuria finally reveals the real reason about why he vacated the featherweight belt after just one title defense.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ilia Topuria Reveals The &ldquo;Promise&rdquo; Made With Him In Exchange For Giving Up The Featherweight Belt - The Playoffs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ilia Topuria finally reveals the real reason about why he vacated the featherweight belt after just one title defense.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Playoffs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-30T12:25:21+01:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_20954828_168415981_lowres.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1013\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zaid Quraishi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ThePlayoffsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ThePlayoffsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zaid Quraishi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zaid Quraishi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd5901be00586ad6098d47c91b67e29\"},\"headline\":\"Ilia Topuria Reveals The \u201cPromise\u201d Made With Him In Exchange For Giving Up The Featherweight Belt\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-30T11:25:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-30T11:25:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.theplayoffs.news\/en\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_20954828_168415981_lowres.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ilia Topuria\",\"Islam Makhachev\"],\"articleSection\":[\"MMA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ilia-topuria-reveals-the-promise-made-with-him-in-exchange-for-giving-up-the-featherweight-belt\/\",\"name\":\"Ilia Topuria Reveals The \u201cPromise\u201d Made With Him In Exchange For Giving Up The Featherweight Belt - 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