Ilia Topuria reveals true reason he moved up to UFC lightweight division

Ilia Topuria has unveiled the real reason behind his decision to move on from the featherweight division.

Topuria is set to compete for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship on June 28. He’ll go one-on-one with former 155-pound titleholder Charles Oliveira. Since “El Matador” is moving up in weight to challenge for a title, he relinquished the featherweight championship.

Much has been made over Topuria’s decision to leave the 145-pound weight class after one title defense, but he has one key reason for it.

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Ilia Topuria Moved up Due to Weight Cutting

ESPN Deportes recently spoke to Ilia Topuria. The former UFC Featherweight Champion revealed that brutal weight cuts led to him moving up to 155 pounds (h/t MMAFighting).

“When you’re cutting weight and you can’t eat or drink water, you don’t care about any material things,” Topuria told ESPN Deportes (Spanish translation via Championship Rounds). “They can give you bags of money, they can give you all the cars you want, you don’t care at all. If they give you this little glass of water and say, ‘You can drink this and it won’t increase your weight,’ I’ll give you whatever it takes in that moment. I’m so low. I feel terrible. It’s like sitting naked in the middle of the street. I feel terrible. So I didn’t want to suffer anymore. I didn’t want to go through that.

“I’d already done it throughout my career. I’d already achieved my dream, which was to become a world champion. I had to close that chapter because I didn’t want to suffer anymore. Because honestly, it’s like living in the desert and I wanted to live on the beach.”

Topuria’s title fight against Charles Oliveira will headline UFC 317 as a part of “International Fight Week.”