5 takeaways from UFC 317: Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira

2025's International Fight Week is in the books, and it was punctuated with a major event. UFC 317 was packed with some big fights, and it largely delivered.

The event saw the crowning of a new lightweight champion, while the flyweight title was also defended, too. With plenty of talking points coming out of the event, this will be one worth discussing for some time.

Here are five takeaways from UFC 317: Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira.

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#5. Payton Talbott showed huge improvements in a short period of time

When 2025 began, Payton Talbott was widely considered one of the UFC's brightest prospects thanks to two big knockout wins in 2024.

However, when he fought gatekeeper Raoni Barcelos in January, he was beaten in humbling fashion. Talbott was largely dominated on the ground, showing a big hole in his game, and his hype train all but came to a halt.

Last night, though, the prospect bounced back in style by beating the tough Felipe Lima impressively.

Had Talbott knocked Lima out, it would've been cool to watch but wouldn't have told us much about his evolution.

Instead, though, Talbott showed plenty of new wrinkles in his game and beat 'Jungle Boy' in all areas, including on the ground, showing skills we'd never seen before.

The fact that Talbott demonstrated such improvements in a relatively short period of time - six months - was astonishing, and shows that his ceiling remains very high.

A decision win like this likely won't speed his hype train up again, but it'll definitely put it back on the rails.

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#4. Joshua Van earned his title shot - but can he shock the world next?

In the world of the UFC, timing is often the biggest key to a fighter's success. Sometimes, by capitalising on a small window of opportunity - often opened by fortune - a fighter can climb the ladder much quicker than they might expect.

The latest example of that is Joshua Van, who will now fight for the flyweight title in his next fight.

Van wasn't supposed to be in action last night. Top contender Brandon Royval was initially scheduled to face Manel Kape to decide the next title challenger.

With Kape sidelined, though, Van stepped in on around two weeks' notice to face by far the toughest opponent of his career. For all intents and purposes, this seemed close to an impossible task for 'The Fearless'.

However, Van stunned everyone last night by taking the fight to 'Raw Dawg', never letting up for a moment even when Royval was catching him with big punches.

The fight became a true thriller, with both men landing over 200 significant strikes, but in the end, Van just about got the better of things, punctuating his win with a third-round knockdown.

Whether 'The Fearless' can now shock the world again by dethroning Alexandre Pantoja, of course, is another thing entirely. However, he risked a lot by taking last night's fight on such short notice, and by winning, nobody can say he doesn't deserve his opportunity.

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#3. Alexandre Pantoja is low-key the UFC's most dominant champion

While Joshua Van's win over Brandon Royval was impressive, to become the next UFC flyweight champion, he'll have to get to another level entirely.

That's because the 125-pound division is currently ruled by the most dominant champion in the promotion - Alexandre Pantoja.

'The Cannibal' was once again perfect last night, as he completely dominated challenger Kai Kara-France en route to a third round submission win. Realistically, the fight wasn't even a contest.

Pantoja now has four successful title defenses, he's won his last eight bouts in a row, and no fighter in UFC history can better his number of 14 wins at 125 pounds.

'The Cannibal' has shown he can strike, grapple and brawl with the best, and there's been no indication of him slowing down yet.

To be frank, the fact that he's only ranked No.9 in the promotion's pound-for-pound rankings is ludicrous. Pantoja is quickly becoming one of the all-time greats, and this win over Kara-France was more evidence of that.

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#2. Ilia Topuria's punching power is writing him into the history books

When Ilia Topuria announced that he'd be abandoning his featherweight title to move up to 155 pounds and hunt for more gold, the fan reaction was mixed.

Many fans felt like 'El Matador' would've been better off trying to stay at 145 pounds and build more of a legacy there, while others questioned how his punching power would translate to a bigger weight class.

Last night saw Topuria answer all of his critics in brutal fashion.

'El Matador' needed just over half a round to completely obliterate former champion Charles Oliveira to claim the lightweight title vacated by Islam Makhachev.

What's more, the way he did it was terrifying. He crushed 'Do Bronx' with a right hook, knocking him senseless with one punch, although he did add a left before Oliveira fell.

When you consider the Brazilian had survived shots from Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler before, the fact that Topuria took him out so easily is mind-blowing.

Realistically, the only two fighters in UFC history to ride their punching power all the way to the top like this were Conor McGregor and Francis Ngannou, and really, neither man faced the caliber of opponents Topuria has knocked out.

'El Matador' is now the tenth fighter in UFC history to claim two titles in different weight classes, and based on this, he could hold his new title for some time. His power has written him firmly into the history books.

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#1. The UFC needs to strike while the iron is hot and book Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett

While Ilia Topuria's lightweight title win over Charles Oliveira was hugely impressive, the smartest thing he did last night came after his win.

Three potential lightweight title challengers - Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett - were seated cageside when 'El Matador' knocked Oliveira out.

After the fight, though, it was 'The Baddy' that Topuria fixated on.

Hurling an expletive-filled rant at the UK-based fighter, 'El Matador' called his rival into the octagon, and after a brief staredown, shoved him. Naturally, the crowd went crazy for the exchange.

Whether Topuria and Pimblett really do hate - or even dislike - one another is honestly hard to say. But Topuria's slight smirk as the two men were separated suggested that he knew exactly what he'd done by shoving 'The Baddy' - he'd set up the UFC's next big money fight.

Put simply, while Pimblett isn't as proven as Tsarukyan or Gaethje, he's far more marketable than either man.

While Dana White reportedly isn't fully sold just yet, the promotion need to strike while the iron is hot in this instance, and book Topuria vs. Pimblett next. It has the potential to be huge.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi