Michael Bisping gives honest pick for Topuria vs. Oliveira at UFC 317

Michael Bisping picks Ilia Topuria to beat Charles Oliveira at UFC 317

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Bisping provided his reasoning for picking Topuria to take the belt at UFC 317.

"I am leaning towards Ilia Topuria," Bisping remarked. "I think the power in the hands is significant. Of course, he has the wrestling to probably be able to stop the takedowns, but more importantly, he's coming up to 155.

"I say this all the time, everybody should move up a weight class and stop cutting so much weight. . . . [Topuria] looks big, he looks bulked up, he's going to be able to hit harder, he's going to be able to take a better shot, the cardio's gonna be better. . . . He will be a much more improved athlete."

Topuria and Charles top the stacked UFC 317 lineup (subject to change):

• Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira; vacant light title
• (c) Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France; fly title
• Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov; middle
• Jhonata Diniz vs. Justin Tafa; heavy
• Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano; light
• Viviane Araujo vs. Tracy Cortez; fly
• Jack Hermansson vs. Gregory Rodrigues; middle
• Terrance McKinney vs. Viacheslav Borshchev; light
• Hyder Amil vs. Jose Delgado; feather
• Brandon Royval vs. Joshua Van; fly