It's official: Ilya Topuria will meet Josh Emmett on June 24
Dana White has made new announcements, among which the upcoming Topuria fight stands out.
The fight between Elijah Topuria and Josh Emmett is scheduled for June 24, as announced by ABC's Alvaro Colmenero. The first tentative date was set a week earlier, but the event was to take place at the UFC Apex tournament in Las Vegas, which would have resulted in very few people being able to witness it live. For this reason, the UFC decided to move it to next weekend. That's fair enough, as this fight deserves fan attention, and about 15,000 fans will be able to attend the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The fight will be a new step forward in Topuria's career. The 26-year-old Spaniard-Georgian will have his first star fight in the UFC. He will wrap up the night and fight five rounds. In addition, he is ranked ninth and his opponent Josh Emmett is ranked fifth. In other words, a triumph would put Ilya in the top five at bantamweight, and his goal of facing the champion would be closer.
Josh Emmett is one of the biggest names in the division. At 38 years old, he lost the interim division championship in February. It was his third career loss.
The fight between Topuria and Emmett wasn't the only one announced by Dana White. The main announcement was the return of the UFC to London, where it was last March. This time it will be fight night, which will take place on July 22. As for the fights, it has been confirmed that the bout between Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns, scheduled for UFC 288 (May 6), will last five rounds. The winner of the fight will undoubtedly claim the welterweight title. Meanwhile, Charles Oliveira and Benhael Dariush will meet at UFC 289 (June 10). The Fight Night star matchup will be Hermansson vs. Allen (middleweight) on June 3, Vettori vs. Cannonier (middleweight) on June 17 and Strickland vs. Magomedov (middleweight) on July 1.