UFC 317 Topuria vs Oliveira Recap

Published: Wednesday, July 2, 2025

by Oren Mouton

UFC fans were spoiled this past weekend after UFC 317 took place in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas, Nevada. After all of the speculation going into the bout versus #2 ranked lightweight and former lightweight champion Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveria, Ilia “El Matador” Topuria silenced all of the people who questioned him.

Topuria backed up his own word by predicting he would KO Oliveria in the first round and did just that, making him the new lightweight champion.  Topuria, now #1 on the Pound-for-Pound rankings, ends Islam Makhachev’s 602-day long reign (3rd longest in UFC history) as PFP king. 

They could be on a collision course to fight in the future at lightweight or welterweight. As for Oliveria, this was most likely his last opportunity to get his title back, but it will not be the last time we see Do Bronx in the octagon. 

In the co-main event of the evening, flyweight champion Alexandre “The Cannibal” Pantoja secured his fourth title defense, winning via rear-naked choke versus the #4 ranked Māori fighter Kai Kara-France. This was Kara-France’s second opportunity at a title, and it will take him a while before he gets another chance, but he will still be at the top of the division.

Pantoja, adding to his flyweight reign, now has the most wins, submissions, and finishes in flyweight history, and also improved his PFP ranking to #5, submitting yet another challenger. UFC fans wonder who can beat the current flyweight king. 

But enter 23-year-old phenom Joshua “The Fearless” Van, formerly ranked #12, who took on the formerly ranked #1 contender Brandon “Raw Dawg” Royval. Van came into this fight on three weeks short notice after fighting on UFC 316 in Newark. 

He was then offered Royval, who was originally scheduled to take on #7 ranked Manel “Starboy” Kape, but after Kape pulled out due to a foot fracture. Van defied the odds and defeated Royval via Unanimous Decision in an absolute war, being the first fight in UFC history to feature both fighters landing 200 or more significant strikes each in only a 3-round bout. 

Van is now looking ahead to the champion Pantoja for a fight before the end of the year, after facing off in the octagon following Pantoja’s victory. Royval will still be in the mix to fight for the title, but could consider moving up a weight class to Bantamweight. 

Beneil “Beni” Dariush got the 29-28 Unanimous decision victory over Renato “Money” Moicano, shutting him down through the entire 15 minutes. Dariush was a perfect 5/5 on takedowns versus Moicano’s 0/3. 

The bout was not as exciting as the fans anticipated it to be, but Dariush was previously on a two-fight losing streak, and was able to get back in the win column after nearly considering retirement. 

In the opening bout of the main card, Payton Talbott was also able to get back into the win column via Unanimous Decision over Felipe “Jungle Boy” Lima. Going into this fight, Talbott was the underdog after losing to Raoni Barcelos in his last fight. 

However, Talbott came back in about 6 months and improved his grappling significantly, which fans believed strongly he would struggle with. Talbott called out the veteran Adrian Yanez, and Lima will look to get back before the year is over. 

In the feature preliminary bout, Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues brutally knocked out Jack “The Joker Hermansson and got back into the win column at middleweight. Hermansson, on the other side of things, saw his record drop to 24-9-0.

Jose Miguel Delgado got a KO win over Hyder Amil in his second fight in the UFC after being brought up from Dana White’s Contender Series and is now 2-0 in the UFC. Amil will look to return again before the year is over, most likely on a card in the fall.  

Tracy Cortez helped her case moving up in the women’s flyweight rankings to #8 after getting a 30-27 Unanimous decision win over Viviane “Vivi” Araujo, convincingly winning all three rounds.  

Terrance “T. Wrecks” McKinney got a quick round one submission over Viacheslav Borschchev, who has now been fed to another prospect at lightweight. McKinney will look to get a ranked opponent in his next bout. Borshchev will probably receive another prospect before the end of the year, possibly on the Abu Dhabi PPV.  

In the early prelims, the undefeated prospect Jacobe “Cobe” Smith advanced to 11-0 via victory by rear-naked choke over Niko Price.  He will be in the mix at welterweight for a long time and will look to get back as soon as possible and add to his undefeated record. Price most likely will not fight until next year or the end of the year due to layoffs after losses. 

In the first fight of the night, prospect Jhonata Diniz got back in the win column via Unanimous Decision over Alvin “Goozie” Hines, who took the loss in his UFC debut. Both fighters sustained a lot of damage, so with this being Hines first loss in his MMA career, he will look to get it back as soon as possible. 

UFC will be back on July 12th in Nashville, where heavyweights collide. Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis will take on young Brazilian prospect Tallison Teixeira.

Oren Mouton can be reached at oren.mouton@student.shu.edu.

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