UFC 317 Loses Main Card Bout As Former Title Challenger Is Out

With a little more than a week to go before the next pay-per-view on the UFC schedule, the promotion has lost one of the fights that was scheduled for the main card of UFC 317. That fight is a middleweight matchup between former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa and Roman Kopylov.

The news of Costa being off the card came from Robert Tellez on social media. The fight has been removed from the UFC 317 page on the promotion’s website.

Costa opened his MMA career at 13-0. Since losing a title fight to then-UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya via TKO in September 2020, Costa is 1-4. He is coming off a split-decision setback to former middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland at UFC 302 in June 2024.

UFC 317: Paulo Costa’s History Of Fight Withdrawals

Costa has a history of pulling out of UFC fights. Since he joined the promotion in 2017 after a stint as the Jungle Fights middleweight titleholder, Costa has withdrawn from six fights under the UFC banner. Two of those withdrawals came after Costa said he had not signed a deal for the fights.

Reports are the fight between Costa and Kopylov is being moved to UFC 318 as the reason for the Costa being unable to compete at UFC 317 is an illness.

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UFC 317: Official Fight Card

The official fight card for UFC 317 is slim.

Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira – For vacant UFC lightweight title

Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Kai Kara-France – For Pantoja’s UFC flyweight title

Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano – Lightweight

Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape – Flyweight

Jack Hermansson vs. Gregory Rodriguez – Middleweight

Payton Talbott Vs. Felipe Lima – Bantamweight

Jhonata Diniz vs. Justin Tafa – Heavyweight

Viviane Araújo vs. Tracy Cortez – Women’s flyweight

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UFC 317: Announced But Not Confirmed Fights

The following bouts have been announced for UFC 317, but not confirmed by the promotion

Terrance McKinney vs. Viacheslav Borshchev – Lightweight

Hyder Amil vs. Jose Delgado – Featherweight

Niko Price vs. Jacobe Smith – Welterweight

UFC 317 Main Event: Ilia Topuria Vs. Charles Oliveira

Ilia Topuria (16-0) is a former Cage Warriors champion. He joined the UFC in 2020 with a 9-0 record. It did not take him long to make a name for himself. He was ranked No. 14 in the featherweight division after three UFC bouts at 145 pounds and one contest in the 155-pound division. Three of those scraps ended with Topuria winning via knockout.

In his first fight as a ranked featherweight, Topuria dispatched Bryce Mitchell via submission in the second round, earned his first “Performance of the Night” bonus and moved to No. 9 in the rankings.

A matchup with No. 5 ranked Josh Emmett followed the Mitchell win. Topuria picked up a decision in a “Fight of the Night” scrap. Topuria’s next fight, saw him face Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 298. Topuria entered that bout as the No. 3 ranked featherweight. He left as the champion after knocking out Volkanovski in the second stanza.

In his first defense of the UFC featherweight crown, Topuria made history, becoming the first fighter to finish former 145-pound champion Max Holloway via strikes, knocking out the ex-champion in the third round of their UFC 308 meeting in October 2024.

When Topuria decided to move to lightweight and give up his featherweight title, he vowed to sit until he got a 155-pound title shot. That fight takes place at UFC 317.

Topuria has a 16-0 record with eight of those wins coming under the UFC banner.

Charles Oliveira (35-10-0-1) has been fighting with the UFC since 2010. He won the vacant lightweight title with his win over Chandler and defended the title once, beating Dustin Poirier. He was booked to face Justin Gaethje in his second title defense, but Oliveira missed weight for that fight, which he won by submission, losing the title on the scale.

Oliveira had a chance to regain the belt in October 2022, but Islam Makhachev submitted him and claimed the vacant belt. Since that loss, Oliveira is 1-1, beating Beneil Dariush by TKO in June 2023 and losing to Arman Tsarukyan via split decision in April of this year.

Oliveira is coming off a November 2024 decision win over Michael Chandler.

Oliveira is the No. 2 fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings.

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UFC 317 Fight Card Date:

Saturday, June 28, 2025

UFC 317 Fight Card Time:

Main card: 10:00 p.m. ET

Preliminary Card: 8:00 p.m. ET

Early Preliminary Card: 6:00 p.m. ET

UFC 317 Fight Card Location:

T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV

We will have more on the UFC 317 fight card as fight night approaches.