Charles Oliveira shares reaction to Dana White's UFC 317 reveal

Mathew Riddle | May 14, 2025

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Charles Oliveira was over the moon with the news of him fighting Ilia Topuria at UFC 317.

On May 13, UFC boss Dana White announced the UFC 317 headliner for the undisputed lightweight belt.

Fight politics had clearly been at play with Islam Makhachev's next fight depending heavily on Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Since 'JDM' won, Makhachev has vacated the throne to challenge for the welterweight belt.

With the air cleared, Oliveira gets a third opportunity at UFC gold on June 28.

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Charles Oliveira reveals how excited he was with Dana White's news

"Everyone started yelling, the kid's screaming, and all that," Oliveira said on MMA Today. ". . . I grabbed the phone, saw thousands of messages and went straight to [my coach, Diego Lima].

"'That's it, let's go,' We're ready, forty-six days for this belt to return where it never should have left."

Oliveira notoriously lost his belt to the scale at UFC 274; otherwise, he'd have two title defenses and three title fight victories to his name. Islam Makhachev thwarted his second attempt at undisputed at UFC 280, and he's been locked out of trying for a third time ever since.

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This time, Oliveira competes against a damning statistic. Male fighters in the lightweight division, at Oliveira's age of 35 or older, have never won a title fight in the long history of the UFC.

Fighters are 0-4 in title fights when they are 35 or older in the lightweight division.

• Tony Ferguson (36) lost to Justin Gaethje; interim title
• Michael Chandler (35) lost to Charles Oliveira
• Alex Volkanovski (35) lost to Islam Makhachev
• Justin Gaethje (35) lost to Max Holloway; BMF belt

Fortunately for Oliveira, now is the time to break 'curses,' since Volkanovski became the first aged fighter to win a belt at featherweight at UFC 314. Belal Muhammad also quietly added his name to a small number of aged fighters to win a belt when he defeated Leon Edwards at UFC 304.

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