Dana White appears confident Ilia Topuria’s time away from MMA won’t last longer than expected.
With Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) announcing he will be taking a hiatus to attend to personal matters, the promotion has moved forward with an interim lightweight title bout between Justin Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) and Paddy Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) as the UFC 324 headliner on Jan. 24 at T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
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Topuria claimed he will only be unavailable through the first quarter of 2026, and UFC CEO White reiterated that timeline with expectations.
“Obviously you just saw Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the interim title,” White said on Instagram Live. “Earlier, Topuria posted, ‘I’m dealing with some personal problems so I’m not going to fight the first quarter.’ The winner of Gaethje vs. Paddy will be the interim titleholder and then they will face Topuria.”
Although it might seem obvious Topuria would unify belts with Gaethje or Pimblett, there is a notable recent example of interim champion Tom Aspinall being forced to defend as the timeline for a unification contest with Jon Jones stretched out.
Topuria hasn’t competed since claiming the vacant 155-pound belt with a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White: Ilia Topuria will return to face UFC 324 title winner
