Ilia Topuria was warned about the dangers of facing Charles Oliveira by Joe Rogan, months before his UFC 317 title fight was announced.
This past Tuesday, UFC boss Dana White made a huge announcement when he revealed that Islam Makhachev has vacated his UFC lightweight title in pursuit of becoming the welterweight champion.
And with that, it was announced that Ilia Topuria will take on Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155lb title at UFC 317 in a monumental fight.
Not long after, Topuria reacted to the news, claiming that Makhachev ‘ran away’ from their potential super fight after admitting several times that he didn’t want to fight ‘El Matador’.
Ilia Topuria warned about the danger of Charles Oliveira by Joe Rogan
Topuria and ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira have been feuding online now for several months, as it became clear that if Makhachev did move up to 170lbs, that would be the matchup that was made.
And while talks regarding a potential fight between Topuria and the former lightweight champion were happening, the Spaniard was warned about the danger of the Brazilian by UFC legend, Joe Rogan.
“Ilia is just so f—— dangerous. He’s so technical too, the way he bobs and weaves and moves in, he’s so comfortable with his head movement, he’s a step ahead of everybody,” Rogan said during an episode of his Fight Companion.
“I like Topuria vs Oliveira. Oliveira is so tall, and so dangerous everywhere (though), (he’d have a) huge reach advantage. Those (lightweights) are real big, Islam’s huge,” Rogan continued.
Charles Oliveira looks to bring the belt back to Brazil
Fans have been calling for ‘Do Bronx’ to be given a title shot ever since he lost the belt to Makhachev back in 2022.
Since then, though, he has only picked up two wins over Beneil Dariush and Michael Chandler, losing to Arman Tsarukyan in that time.
Tsarukyan may feel hard done by to miss out on fighting for the title, however, he was told by Dana White that he would have to work his way back up after withdrawing from his title fight against Makhachev just a day out from UFC 311.
When reacting to the news that he would be fighting ‘El Matador’ for the vacant title, Oliveira implored that he will bring the belt back to ‘where it should never have left’.