It appears Ilia Topuria’s leave of absence is about to come to an end.
The UFC lightweight champion wrote on social media Thursday that “the champ is back” and the post was accompanied by a series of photos and videos of him training in his gym.
Topuria announced in November he wouldn’t fight in the first quarter of 2026 while “going through a difficult moment in my personal life,” later revealing he was going through a separation and claimed he was being extorted.
According to a Thursday report from Spanish publication Marca, Topuria and his ex-partner have reached an agreement and that Topuria is preparing to return to the cage and is aiming to return for the UFC’s planned June event at the White House.
The 29-year-old Spanish-Georgian star is 17-0 in professional mixed martial arts and 9-0 since debuting in the UFC in 2020. He is also the former undisputed UFC featherweight champion and his perfect run in the 145-pound division was capped off with back-to-back knockout wins in 2024 over Alexander Volkanovski and over Max Holloway.
Topuria vacated the featherweight title last year to move up to the 155-pound division where he became a lightweight titleholder when he knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 this past summer.
While Topuria was out of action, the organization decided to introduce an interim lightweight title at UFC 324 a couple weeks ago. Justin Gaethje defeated Paddy Pimblett to win that belt and now, presumably, Topuria’s first fight back will be a title unification bout with Gaethje.
The UFC has not confirmed a Topuria vs. Gaethje tilt, nor has the organization announced any matchups for the White House event, which is expected to boast a blockbuster card.
