Charles Oliveira will defend ‘hardest division’ against featherweight invaders — ‘I can knock out Ilia Topuria’

Ilia Topuria vacated the featherweight title after knocking out Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway, insisting there is nothing left for “El Matador” to prove at 145 pounds. A debut in the lightweight division seems imminent, with whispers of a potential Islam Makhachev title fight looming for one of the promotion’s upcoming pay-per-view (PPV) cards.

Assuming Topuria doesn’t get knocked out by Charles Oliveira along the way.

“I’ll fight with whoever they tell me to fight,” Oliveira told Oddspedia. “I have nothing but respect for Ilia Topuria, but this is in lightweight. It’s the hardest division you’ve ever seen and I have strength in my hands. I believe in my Jiu-Jitsu, but I believe I can knock out Ilia Topuria.”

a “BMF” fight against Holloway.

“I was talking about fighting with Max Holloway for the BMF, but it seems that he will fight with Dustin Poirier,” Oliveira continued. “To be honest, I want to fight for the title, I believe I deserve it. Makhachev won’t fight for a while and that’s why the idea of the BMF came up. I want to fight for the title anyway, now I’m just waiting for the call.”

Oliveira lost the lightweight title to Makhachev at UFC 280.