Alexander Volkanovski expressed concern for Charles Oliveira as the Brazilian cut weight for UFC 317, only for the main-eventer to come through in the end.
On Saturday (28 June), Oliveira will face Ilia Topuria for the vacant lightweight title, headlining at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The bout marks an opportunity for Oliveira to regain the belt he held from 2021 until 2022, while Topuria aims to become a two-weight champion, having recently given up the featherweight strap to eye 155lb gold.
Topuria understands the difficulty of cutting weight, with it being a key reason for his move up from 145lb, but Oliveira has struggled with that element of fighting like few other combatants. The 35-year-old, a former 145lber, has missed weight six times in the UFC, with his 2022 miss costing him the lightweight title, one day before a planned defence against Justin Gaethje.
And Volkanovski, who won the vacant featherweight belt in April to become a two-time champion, was worried that Oliveira was not approaching his latest weight-cut properly.
After seeing a photograph or footage of Oliveira lying down, wrapped in a towel, surrounded by his team offering support – seemingly on Thursday – Volkanovski asked journalist Ariel Helwani: “Is that an old video, is that an old photo? You shouldn’t be doing that yet.
“Fair enough, a lot of people like to sweat, they’ll go and get a sweat out. Then, after a workout, after a good sweat, they’ll go and keep sweating. Even though you’re gonna hydrate back up, everyone likes to get a good sweat.
“And it still does help, you still start depleting a bit of that water each time you do it, but you’re gonna hydrate back up anyway. So, if he’s doing that now – cutting weight – and then he has to do a press conference tonight, and then cut the rest…
“That’s a long time to be sort of dehydrated. You should be rehydrating. Maybe it’s an old one, and they’re just getting ready for the weight-cut, and that’s why they posted it. Do you reckon? I don’t know.”
However, Oliveira was just within the limit on Friday (27 June), tipping the scales at 155lb, while Topuria weighed in at 154.5lb.
Volkanovski was a long-reigning featherweight champion until he was knocked out by Topuria in February 2024. Topuria then retained the 145lb title with a KO of Max Holloway in October, before giving up the gold this year. Volkanovski then outpointed Diego Lopes to claim the vacant strap.
Predicting Saturday’s main event, Volkanovski said: “I’ve got Ilia. I think just stylistically and what we’ve seen… Charles is very aggressive, very exciting fighter, that’s why we all love to watch him. But if he comes aggressive like that, there’s gonna be opportunities for Ilia. Ilia can bang.
“If you’re gonna come forward like that, yeah, you might land yourself – that’s always gonna be something as well, Charles could definitely catch him. But you can be hitable if you come aggressively like that, especially with someone like Ilia, who’s gonna back himself and try and put one on you as you’re coming in like that – especially if you’re that little bit out of position.
“I wouldn’t say [Oliveira’s] chin is up, he sort of has a guard, but the way he comes forward in a straight line… Ilia can really sit on some shots if that’s the case. I know there’s gonna be knees coming up [from Oliveira], will he be worried about that? Will he wanna be defensive first, Ilia, because he knows how aggressive Charles is gonna come forward?
“It’s an interesting one, because we don’t know how Ilia is on the back foot. But will Charles be like, ‘I’m gonna tell him I’m gonna come forward aggressive [in the striking], but I’m actually gonna shoot [takedowns] on him’?
“But if he comes aggressive and does what he always does, I think yeah, Ilia [wins]. I think it’s a knockout.”
Topuria, 28, is unbeaten as a professional. The Spanish-Georgian was hoping to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight belt this year, but Makhachev vacated the 155lb title last month to pursue the welterweight strap.
Makhachev, who holds the record for the most consecutive, successful lightweight title defences (4), is expected to challenge 170lb champion Jack Della Maddalena later this year.
Two of Makhachev’s lightweight title defences came against Volkanovski, whose first reign as featherweight champion was ongoing at the time. Makhachev outpointed the Australian in early 2023 and knocked him out later that year, when Volkanovski stepped in for an injured Oliveira on short notice.
