Topuria’s Three-Division Goal: What He Said in 2024
Before UFC 308 in October 2024, Ilia Topuria described a three-year goal: become a champion in three weight classes. He was the UFC featherweight champion then and planned to move to lightweight, then welterweight. The ambition was a forecast, not an achievement. He retained featherweight gold and later won the lightweight belt, but he had not captured a third division championship by October 2026.
The three-division goal
In a fight-week interview with TNT Sports, Topuria said his goal was to become a “three-weight world champion” within the next three years. His proposed route was to first defend the featherweight title, then move up to lightweight and eventually welterweight.
Source: MMA Fighting’s report on Topuria’s three-weight goal.
He defended featherweight gold against Max Holloway
Topuria’s first step was UFC 308, where he faced former champion Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi. On October 26, 2024, Topuria stopped Holloway by knockout at 1:34 of the third round, retaining his featherweight title. It was Holloway’s first knockout loss in the UFC. The result was the first successful title defense of Topuria’s championship reign.
Source: UFC’s official UFC 308 results.
Lightweight became a second title
Rather than make another featherweight defense, Topuria vacated that belt in April 2025 and moved to lightweight. At UFC 317 on June 28, 2025, he knocked out Charles Oliveira at 2:27 of the first round to win the vacant lightweight title. The UFC counted him among the small group of fighters to win championships in two different UFC divisions. That brought him halfway to the stated three-weight goal.
Sources: Topuria’s UFC record and UFC 317’s official result.
A third belt remains unclaimed
Topuria’s lightweight reign ended at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026. Justin Gaethje defeated him by TKO via corner stoppage at the end of the fourth round. As of October 2026, Topuria had won UFC titles at featherweight and lightweight, but not welterweight. The three-division target he announced in 2024 therefore remains unrealized.
Source: UFC’s official UFC Freedom 250 results.
Ambition and achievement are different
Topuria’s ambition was bold, and his wins over Holloway and Oliveira made him a two-division UFC champion. They do not prove that a third belt is assured. Moving from featherweight to lightweight required a new title run; welterweight would present another step up in size and competition. The record so far is impressive on its own: one successful featherweight title defense, a move up, and a lightweight championship win before a later loss to Gaethje.
The clearest account of Topuria’s “three-year vision” keeps the original statement in context and tracks what followed: two UFC division titles won, the lightweight belt later lost, and a third division title still ahead if he chooses to pursue it.
Sources
Tags: UFC, MMA, Topuria’s Three-Division Goal
