UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria announced Thursday that he will not fight during the first quarter of 2026 as he deals with “a difficult moment in my personal life.”
Topuria divulged the news in a post on X, writing, “I won’t be fighting in the first quarter of next year. I’m going through a difficult moment in my personal life. I want to focus on my children and resolve this situation as soon as possible. I don’t want to hold up the division. The UFC will make the matchups needed, and as soon as the matters are resolved I’ll let the UFC know I’m ready to begin my return.”
The 28-year-old Topuria is a perfect 17-0 in his professional MMA career, and in his most recent fight, he beat Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 317 in June.
Topuria previously held the UFC featherweight title as well, winning it from Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 last year.
The Georgian and Spanish fighter, who was born in Germany, followed that up with a successful defense against Max Holloway at UFC 308 in October 2024.
However, after only one defense, Topuria decided to vacate the featherweight title in favor of moving up in weight and going after the lightweight title.
Topuria immediately established himself as the class of that division as well with his convincing, first-round knockout of Oliveira.
In the UFC pound-for-pound rankings, Topuria is the No. 2 overall fighter in the promotion behind only Islam Makhachev.
Arman Tsarukyan established himself as the potential No. 1 contender for the lightweight title with a win over Dan Hooker last weekend, while Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett are also in the mix.
With Topuria set to miss several months, two of the aforementioned fighters could possibly meet in a fight for the interim UFC lightweight title with the winner going on to face Topuria in a unification bout at a later date.
