UFC Bumps Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria to June 24 UFC on ABC 5 Headliner

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS JUST DROPPED! 🚨@DanaWhite just confirmed SIX big fights going down this summer and more 👀 pic.twitter.com/2trJujb3kB

— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023

The Ultimate Fighting Championship decided that it would rather feature featherweights in its June return to the ABC airwaves.

The UFC announced in a series of headliners that UFC on ABC 5, the fight card that will be posting up inside of the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, will gain a marquee fight previously scheduled elsewhere. The promotion had initially placed Josh Emmett (18-3) vs. Ilia Topuria (13-0) in the main attraction of the UFC show on June 17, one that will play out at the UFC Apex. Instead, the featherweights will battle it out on a major broadcast network on June 24. The only other fights set on the lineup thus far include a flyweight tilt between Amanda Ribas and Maycee Barber and another at 125 pounds between Tatsuro Taira and Kleydson Rodrigues.

Emmett saw his championship aspirations and five-fight win streak go up in smoke when he encountered Yair Rodriguez for the featherweight throne in February. With champ Alexander Volkanovski moving up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev, the organization decided to crown a no. 1 contender between Rodriguez and Emmett. For just the first time in his career, the power-punching Team Alpha Male rep tapped out to a submission, with Rodriguez outworking him until landing the triangle choke. Before then, Emmett had strung together an impressive stretch of victories that included Shane Burgos, Dan Ige and Calvin Kattar in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.

While Emmett last lost in his last time out, that is a sensation Topuria has not felt as a professional thus far. The Spanish fighter born in Germany to Georgian parents made his mark in the UFC by debuting in 2020, where he outworked Youssef Zalal over the course of three rounds to claim his lone career decision to date. Since then, Topuria has impressed the masses as he crushed his way up the featherweight ranks, with three finishes at 145 pounds over Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall, and most recently, Bryce Mitchell. Along the way, “El Matador” tested the waters at 155 pounds and smoked Jai Herbert in March 2022.