Ilya Topuria was defeated for the first time and lost the UFC belt to Justin Gatji

On the night of June 15, Washington hosted the historic Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) White House — Freedom 250 tournament. The event was timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. In the main match of the evening, 37-year-old American Justin Geiji inflicted the first career defeat on the current lightweight champion, 29-year-old Spaniard of Georgian origin Ilie Topuria. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

The circumstances of the duel

The fight took place in a temporary arena set up on the lawn in front of the residence of the American president, and American leader Donald Trump personally visited him. The celebration of Trump's 80th birthday coincided with the main event of the show. The UFC lightweight belt (up to 70.3 kg) was at stake: for Geiji, this was his third attempt to become a league champion, and for Topuria, his first title defense. The Spanish fighter won the belt in June 2025, knocking out Brazilian Charles Oliveira.

How was the fight going?

The first two rounds were fought equally. However, starting from the third round, the initiative completely passed to the American, who began to dominate, delivering accurate hits and putting pressure on his opponent. After a series of missed shots, Topuria had serious vision problems. Despite his attempts to defend himself, the Spaniard missed too much and eventually could not continue the fight after the fourth round. The fight was stopped by a doctor's decision, and the victory was awarded to Geiji by technical knockout. After the announcement of the result, Trump entered the octagon to personally congratulate the new champion.

What does this mean for fighters?

Geiji won the long-awaited lightweight championship belt on his third attempt. Previously, he unsuccessfully tried to take the title from Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020 and from Charles Oliveira in 2022. The American now has 28 wins and 5 losses.

Topuria suffered his first defeat in his professional career with 17 wins. In his last fight, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in Las Vegas (USA) on June 28, 2025. The fighter has also been repeatedly recognized as the best fighter of the year. He became the UFC featherweight champion and was the current UFC lightweight champion until today's fight.