Looking Back on Ilia Topuria’s MMA Career Ahead of UFC 308

At UFC 298 back in February, Ilia Topuria stunned the world by knocking out five-time defending featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, handing “The Great” his first ever loss in the weight class. 

Now, making the first defense of his newly-acquired strap, the Spaniard will attempt to take down another all-time great in the division when he battles Hawaiian boxing ace Max Holloway at UFC 308. Heading into his first bout as champion, Topuria absolutely exudes confidence, with him even boasting that he will be the first man to finish “Blessed” by knockout.  

Holloway, meanwhile, is coming off a highlight-reel stoppage victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. The victory earned the former 145-lb kingpin a sizable bonus, as well as the BMF belt that was previously held by the aforementioned Gaethje. 

Ilia Topuria: The Early Years

Throughout his professional career, Topuria remains undefeated with a perfect record of 15-0. Debuting in the UFC back in 2020, “El Matador” has steamrolled every single opponent that he has faced, so far. Now, he will put his 0 and his title on the line against one of the greatest fighters of all time to cement his status as the best Featherweight competitor on the planet. 

Originally born in Germany in 1997, Topuria relocated to Georgia in his early childhood, in which time he began to learn wrestling. As a teenager, he moved once more to Spain, eventually joining the martial arts gym known as Climent Club, where he still trains to this day. It was under the head coaches of said gym, Agustin and Jorge Climent, that Topuria, along with his brother, achieved international recognition for becoming the first men from Georgia to reach the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. 

Starting his MMA career back on April 4, 2015, Topuria blazed through his first four fights, winning each of them by submission and earning the Mix Fight Events Featherweight Championship in the process. 

Dropping to Bantamweight Doesn’t Hurt and the UFC Comes Calling

For his next two contests, he opted to drop down to bantamweight. The 10-pound weight difference didn’t appear to hamper his finishing ability, though, as Topuria picked up another submission victory in his first outing in the division. However, his move to the 135-lb. class didn’t come without a few bumps in the road, one bump being a failed weight miss for his shot at the Cage Warriors Bantamweight title opposite Brian Bouland. While he did manage to defeat Bouland with an anaconda choke, his failure on the scale disqualified him from attaining the championship. 

Going back up to featherweight, Topuria notched two more stunning finishes during a brief stint in Brave CF, where he scored his first knockout after starching Stephen Goncalves in over three minutes. Emerging as a hot prospect on the European scene, “El Matador” signed with the UFC in 2020, making his debut later that year at UFC Fight Island 5, where he faced the equally prospective Youssef Zalal. Going to the judge’s score cards for the first time in his career, Topuria took home the unanimous decision after a competitive confrontation with the “The Moroccan Devil.”

In the coming three years, the Spanish powerhouse rattled off win after win over some of the division’s most seasoned veterans such as Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall, and Bryce Mitchell, notably handing the latter his first ever loss as a professional. Surging up the 145-lb. leaderboard, Topuria found himself being booked in a main event matchup at UFC on ABC 5 against the hardest-hitting name at featherweight, Josh Emmett. Although the sheer power of Emmett had laid low many a man before him, “El Matador” proceeded to pick the former interim title challenger apart for five rounds, bloodying Emmett en route to snatching a dominant unanimous decision.

Securing the Featherweight Title

Elevating himself to the clear number one contender spot, Topuria kicked off 2024 by landing another high-profile contest at UFC 298 in a bid for the featherweight championship when he locked horns with then champion Alexander Volkanovski. While Volkanovski was coming off a devastating knockout loss to current lightweight king Islam Makhachev, he was still viewed as one of the top fighters on the UFC roster, having previously defended his title five times. 

Throughout the first round, both men began to feel each other out, with Topuria attempting to land the big shot to try and put Volkanovski out. “The Great”, on the other hand, managed to avoid most of the heavy fire and land some strikes of his own. In the second, the champion was starting to find his range and bloodying the challenger’s nose, but after getting Volkanovski in the clinch, Topuria found his mark with a short right hook to send the Aussie crashing to the canvas. A short barrage of ground strikes then forced the referee to stop the fight, making “El Matador” the new UFC Featherweight Champion. 

After a magnificent performance, Topuria had not only become a champion in the largest MMA promotion in the world, he also made history as both the first Georgian and Spanish competitor to win a UFC title. Now stepping up in possibly the toughest test of his career versus Max Holloway, the Climent Club product will look to defend his strap at the incredibly stacked UFC 308. Should Topuria prove his prediction right and knockout the durable former champion, he will undeniably punch his ticket into the annals of featherweight history as one of the division’s greats.