The mixed martial arts (MMA) world witnessed one of the bloodiest fights in recent memory last night (Fri., Nov. 29, 2025) at WOW 24 LIVE on UFC Fight Pass from Vitoria, Spain, and the canvas might never be the same.

‘El Matador’ hasn’t fought since he successfully moved up to the lightweight division and won the title in June after vacating his featherweight belt. A recent update stated that Topuria wouldn’t be fighting on the UFC’s first big event of 2026, which many believed he was being saved for.

Max Holloway has shown empathy for Ilia Topuria as the UFC lightweight champ will not compete in early 2026 due to personal issues.

Topuria captured the lightweight title in his lone 2025 appearance with a brutal knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June. Topuria vacated the featherweight title in hopes to fight Makhachev for the 155-pound belt, but Makhachev had the same idea of making his own history.

New UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is still awaiting word on his first title defense but there are a lot of signs pointing towards an eventual showdown with Paddy Pimblett. It doesn’t hurt that Topuria and Pimblett have engaged in a very public war of words not to mention a physical altercation that broke out between them at a UFC event in London back in 2022.

Ilia Topuria and Cristiano Ronaldo are under the umbrella of a Spain-based MMA promotion with the latter delivering big shareholder news.

Fans hoping to see the UFC lightweight champion anytime soon may be in for a bit of a wait. The 155-pound division has been getting plenty of attention following the UFC’s debut event in Qatar, where Arman Tsarukyan submitted Dan Hooker in the main event.