Ilia Topuria reveals UFC asked him to ‘make us a promise’ not to move to welterweight yet

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Ilia Topuria has designs on eventually becoming a three-division UFC champion but he might have to wait to chase that goal for a little while longer.

Following a stunning first-round knockout over Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight title, Topuria revealed that the UFC actually asked him not to immediately declare his intentions to move up to 170 pounds. While he hinted at that possibility several times prior to UFC 317 with hopes of...