Islam Makhachev will vacate and fight for the welterweight title with Ilia Topuria to challenge for his vacant lightweight crown.
Makhachev announced his intentions to move up to 170lbs after Jack Della Maddalena became new champion with victory over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315.
It means he will not settle his rivalry with Topuria, who had vacated his featherweight crown to move up to 155lbs.
UFC kingpin White announced exactly what this meant for both fighters when confirming the next slate of huge pay-per-view events.
Topuria will now face Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155lbs crown at UFC 317 in Las Vegas on June 28.
Meanwhile, Makhachev will step up and fight for the next title, with a date and venue yet to be confirmed.
After the news was confirmed, Topuria took to Twitter to mock the moving champion.
He posted: “On June 28, another dream will come true.
“I’ll be the champion of the lightweight division. Charles, my apologies in advance.
“I’m just fighting for my dreams. It’s unfortunate that Makhachev ran away. 17-0.”
It was part of a blockbuster announcement from White, who also announced the rest of Topuria’s bill.
The International Fight Weekend card will also see Alexandre Pantoja defend his flyweight title against Kai Kara-France.
UFC 319 will also feature a huge title fight as Khamzat Chimaev gets a shot at welterweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
As part of the announcement, he revealed he will soon be in a position to confirm the seismic heavyweight battle between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall.
But it promises to be a huge year for the UFC with their busy schedule building up into a fantastic summer.
Makhachev’s decision to vacate may come as a surprise to many in the MMA fraternity, who were keen to see him face Topuria.
But his manager Ali Abdelaziz explained that Makhachev saw the opportunity to move up, with Della Maddalena being the one to win the belt.
He explained: “If Belal were to win, Islam was never going to fight Belal, and he’s going to stay in the (lightweight) division. But now Jack wins.
“Islam has beaten everyone in this division, literally. Dan Hooker, Arman, Charles Oliveira, he’s on a 15-fight winning streak, finished nine of his last 10 opponents.
“(There’s no one who) deserves to go fight for a second title than Islam, and the reason he wasn’t going to do it because Belal was the champion.”
