Ilia Topuria will attempt to become a two-weight champion at UFC 317 later this month.
Charles Oliveira is all that stands in the way of ‘El Matador’ and lightweight glory on June 28.
16-0 superstar Ilia Topuria vacated his featherweight title to pursue 155lb gold earlier this year.
The move came as a shock to many as the 28-year-old had only defended his 145lb belt once.
Now Ilia Topuria has revealed the real reason why he decided to take such drastic action.
Ilia Topuria explains why he moved to lightweight
Standing at just 5ft 7in, Topuria will be one of the smaller fighters in his new weight class.
Still, the Spaniard believes giving up size is a small price to pay for avoiding a torturous weight cut.
“When you’re cutting weight and you can’t eat or drink water, you don’t care about any material things,” Topuria said in Spanish during a recent interview with ESPN Deportes.
“They can give you bags of money, they can give you all the cars you want, you don’t care at all.
“If they give you this little glass of water and say, ‘You can drink this and it won’t increase your weight,’ I’ll give you whatever it takes in that moment. I’m so low. I feel terrible. It’s like sitting naked in the middle of the street. I feel terrible. So I didn’t want to suffer anymore. I didn’t want to go through that.
“I’d already done it throughout my career. I’d already achieved my dream, which was to become a world champion. I had to close that chapter because I didn’t want to suffer anymore.
“Honestly, it’s like living in the desert and I wanted to live on the beach.”
Ilia Topuria feels stronger than ever ahead of UFC 317
During a pre-event promo for UFC 317, Topuria gave fight fans an idea of how he’s feeling at 155lbs.
The pound-for-pound superstar fears he will make Oliveira’s chin explode if he connects cleanly.
“I feel so powerful at 155,” Topuria said.
“I’m gonna touch his chin and it will explode.”
Oliveira isn’t concerned as he believes the KO power is in his hands after years of lightweight success.
“I don’t care much about what people say there. In reality, that’s the reality,” he told Full Violence. “I know he’s a guy who hits hard, but he’s talking about the lightweight category, the harder category.
“I fought against Justin Gaethje and everyone said he was the guy who hit harder, and when I did, he went down.
“I believe in the power of fire in the hands that I have, so let’s wait, on the 28th we’ll meet.”