Topuria vs. Oliveira, Pantoja vs. Kara-France Title Bouts Top UFC 317 Lineup

The UFC’s International Fight Week card will feature two championship pairings at the top of the bill.

UFC CEO Dana White announced on Tuesday that Ilia Topuria will face Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight strap, while Alexandre Pantoja will defend his flyweight belt against Kai Kara-France at UFC 317. Islam Makhachev is relinquishing his 155-pound title to move up to welterweight, White also confirmed.

UFC 317 takes place on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Other bouts confirmed for the card include a middleweight clash between Paulo Costa and Roman Kopylov and a lightweight rebooking pitting Beneil Dariush against Renato Carneiro.

Topuria vacated the featherweight belt earlier this year in hopes of pursuing championship dreams at 155 pounds. “El Matador” captured the 145-pound strap with a second-round KO of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 before defending the crown with a third-round knockout of Max Holloway at UFC 308 this past October. “El Matador” is undefeated in 16 professional appearances overall.

Oliveira is a former lightweight champion who went undefeated in 11 UFC outings from 2018 to 2022. “Do Bronxs” is coming off a 1-1 campaign in 2024, where he dropped a split decision to Arman Tsarukyan in a title eliminator at UFC 300 before taking a five-round verdict over Michael Chandler at UFC 309 on Nov. 16. Oliveira was able to bypass Tsarukyan on the contender’s list after the Russian lightweight withdrew from a proposed booking against Makhachev at UFC 311.

Pantoja will take a seven-bout winning streak into the matchup with Kara-France. After winning the flyweight title with a five-round verdict over Brandon Moreno at UFC 290, “The Cannibal” has authored successful defenses against Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg and Kai Asakura.

Kara-France is receiving a title shot largely on the basis of his most recent work, a first-round TKO of Erceg at UFC 305 this past August. Prior to that, “Don’t Blink” had dropped back-to-back contests against Amir Albazi and Moreno, though the split-decision defeat against Albazi was quite controversial. Kara-France also lost a unanimous decision to Pantoja in a quarterfinal bout on “The Ultimate Fighter 24,” but that result is officially listed as an exhibition.