Dana White shares timeline for Ilia Topuria's lightweight fight announcement

UFC CEO Dana White has urged MMA fans to remain patient regarding news of Ilia Topuria's next fight, which will be at lightweight. The Spaniard opted to vacate the featherweight title, an unexpected decision, and move to 155 pounds in search of more gold.

According to White, Topuria's decision to vacate the belt was largely due to his enormous weight cut to make the 145-pound limit. The former featherweight champion recently took to social media to share that he will be entering his next fight with a "new identity."

His post gave fans hope that a fight announcement was looming. During a recent interview with TNT Sports, White shared an update on Topuria's next fight announcement, saying this:

"Still working on the plan for him. We should have some announcements about him, give us a couple more weeks and we'll have some concrete plans for him. As of right now, that is true, he is vacating and moving up and we'll figure out the rest in the next couple of weeks."

Check out Dana White discussing Ilia Topuria below (4:40):

With Topuria having knocked out Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, arguably the two best featherweights of all time, in consecutive fights, there were few obvious new challengers for him to face at 145 pounds.

Aside from the brutal weight cut at featherweight, the idea of bigger and better challengers awaiting him at 155 pounds almost certainly added to his motivation to move divisions.

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Dana White opens up on his plans in the world of boxing

Dana White and Turki Alalshikh are set to create their own boxing league, which will rival fellow promotions for the signatures of the best pugilists globally. TKO Group Holdings, who own the UFC, will partner up with entertainment company Sela, and Alalshikh.

With White having criticized the state of boxing, it now appears that the UFC CEO intends to do something to fix the sport he labeled as "broken".

There have been rumors that White will be part of the promotional team for the mega-fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, scheduled for September. The UFC CEO was recently interviewed by Fight Hub TV about his plans in boxing, and he said this:

"Where do you begin [with boxing's problems]? Probably, the best fighting the best, let's start there... My model is way different. Turki has things obligated to him for the next 18 months. I want to break the sport down and build it from the ground up, like we did the UFC."

Check out Dana White's comments below (0:16):