The kings reigned supreme at UFC 317. Both Ilia Topuria and Alexandre Pantoja dominated their respective opponents.
UFC 317 featured Topuria facing off with Charles Oliveira and was supported by Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Kara-France’s co-main event.
UFC 317 delivered from top to bottom with all action all the time. But it was Topuria that stole the night with his massive first round knockout of the former champion.
Ilia Topuria, the next super star
Ilia Topuria is on his way to being a massive superstar for the UFC, something sorely needed. After knocking out Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski in his last two fights, Topuria ripped the hearts of the fans out of their chest cleanly by putting down Oliveira in a blink of an eye.
Topuria was forced to do with Oliveira pushing the pace with low kicks and looking to clinch. Oliveira ended up losing position and having Topuria on top of him. Oliveira fished for a leg lock and created a scramble to make things happen.
Out of the leg lock and out of the guard, Ilia Topuria welcomed Charles Oliveira up to his feet and proceeded to turn his lights off with a massive right hand that Oliveira walked right onto.
In his post fight speech with Joe Rogan, Topuria called out Paddy Pimblett, not Arman Tsarukyan or Justin Gaethje. Pimblett and Topuria have a past of going back and forth, sometimes violently. The fight will be welcomed by fans.
Alexandre Pantoja and Joshua Van
In a stroke of good planning, the UFC also managed to get a new contender on the same card for Alexandre Pantoja. Defending against Kai Kara-France, Pantoja put the New Zealander away in round three after dominating the first two rounds.
Earlier at UFC 317, Joshua Van stepped up on three weeks notice to face number one contender Brandon Royval. Van, who is the 12th ranked flyweight, rose to the occasion and dropped Royval at the end of round three to steal a close round away from Royval and take the title shot home with him.
The two met in the cage and Van said that Pantoja, “has never fought Joshua Van.”
Van and Royval’s fight was perhaps fight of the year and now everyone is talking about a new matchup for Pantoja, who defended his title a fourth time.
Elsewhere on UFC 317 fans were treated to spectacular fights such as Beneil Dariush coming from behind to defeat Renato Moicano and Payton Talbott’s return to the win column over a very tough Felipe Lima.
Gregory Rodrigues scored a post fight bonus with a massive knockout of Jack Hermansson. Other results include:
Jose Delgado def. Hyder Amil via R1 TKOTracy Cortez def. Vivian’s Araujo via unanimous decisionTerrance McKinney def. Viacheslav Borschev via R1 rear naked chokeJhonata Diniz def. Alvin Hines via unanimous decision
