The UFC world was dealt a shock this Tuesday when Dana White made a long awaited announcement regarding the UFC 317 main event.
On Tuesday, UFC boss Dana White took to Instagram live to make several huge announcements, with the main one being that Islam Makhachev has vacated his lightweight title.
And with that, White announced that Ilia Topuria will take on Charles Oliveira for the vacant title in the UFC 317 main event, headlining International Fight Week.
Islam Makhachev‘s title vacation comes as a huge shock considering last week he revealed that he would not be vacating his title and will move up to welterweight to attempt to become a double champion.
Jack Della Maddalena provides injury update after shock title vacation
After Jack Della Maddalena captured the UFC welterweight title this past weekend at UFC 315, his first title defense was almost immediately set after he was sent a warning message by Makhachev.
Della Maddalena then went on to have a conversation with Dana White, asking if the fight could take place in Perth, to which White claimed ‘we’re working on it’.
With Makhachev having now vacated his 155lb title and having only fought once this year, the Russian is likely hoping to return to action as soon as possible.
And with that, the newly crowned Australian champion has provided an injury update, and stated when he would like to defend his title against the 32-year-old.
“There are no plans yet, but yeah, I reckon we’ll be getting back in there within the next four to five months, I believe, some point mid to late end of the year we’ll get something going,” Della Maddalena told Fox Sports Australia.
“Hopefully we get in there real soon, cause I’m feeling pretty good,” he continued.
Islam Makhachev’s manager claims he will fight for the title this year, no matter what
Despite the fact that Della Maddalena is keen to return to action following his title win, Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz has claimed that Makhachev will be fighting for the 170lb title this year, no matter what.
Abdelaziz has stated that if Della Maddalena isn’t ready, he will be stripped by the UFC.
“Islam will fight this year, regardless of whether Della Maddalena is injured or not injured, this is what I was told by Dana, Hunter (Campbell), everybody. They said, Jamahal Hill got injured, we (stripped him)… Islam will fight for the title, and for the real one, not the interim,” Abdelaziz told MMAJunkie.
Fortunately, with Della Maddalena’s eagerness to fight, there shouldn’t be any issues in making the fight between him and Makhachev.