Contact sports have never been particularly popular in our country, even if we have had great athletes in these disciplines. Having had particularly important boxers, no sport based on martial arts has ever really caught on. Not even when the world, and especially the USA and England, seem to surrender to the benefits of MMA, mixed martial arts, Spain continues to show a rather lukewarm interest in this regard. Something that may change soon, as we may have a possible UFC champion of Spanish origin on the horizon.
Born on January 21, 1997 in Halle, German city famous for being the hometown of composer Georg Friedrich Händel and host city of Russian mathematician Georg Cantor, he moved at the age of seven to Georgia, the native country of his parents, where he would practice Greco-Roman wrestling at school. At the age of fifteen he would move to Alicante, where he would begin practicing martial arts at the Climent Club gym, making his debut on the professional MMA scene at the age of eighteen, in 2015, in local competitions.
His first four fights took place in Valencia and Alicante against local fighters, winning in the first two rounds by submission, with keys that forced his rivals to surrender. His first international fight, in CAGE 43, was in Helsinki on April 28, 2018, where he beat Mika Hamalainen by submission in the first round. From there he continued to climb the ranks, winning by submission all of his fights in Cage Warriors and later in Brave Combat Federation, with the exception of his eighth fight, won by KO against Stephen Goncalves, knocking him down with punches. At that time he caught the attention of the current biggest MMA company in the world, the UFC.
In UFC he has had five fights so far. His first, against Youssef Zalai, he won by unanimous judges’ decision after all three rounds were exhausted with no clear winner. His next three fights, against Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall and Jai Herbert he won by KO with punches, with his last fight so far, against Bryce Mitchell, managing to win by submission. This has earned him to become one of the biggest promises of the company, with an extraordinary win rate, which justifies the nickname he was given at his gym: El Matador.
Despite the fact that Ilia Topuria’s career is already more than consolidated, the lack of knowledge of his sport in Spain makes him a less known professional than he should be. Even if he has never been shy to appear in the media. Already in 2021 he appeared in La Resistencia, David Broncano’s program, where he talked about his life and his work, and he has appeared in more than a few podcasts in recent months, such as The Wild Project, in addition to his own podcast. If we also count his recent appearance on El Hormiguero, it is undeniable that he has the potential to be a Spanish sports star.
If you want to see Topuria’s next fight, you’ll still have to wait a bit. While it had been announced that his next fight would be June 17 at UFC on ESPN 46, it will finally be June 24 at UFC on ABC: Emmett vs. Topuria, this being his first headlining bout and also his first fight against a fighter ranked one spot above him, as Josh Emmett is ranked fifth in the UFC’s top 10 featherweight rankings.
If Topuria wins this bout as soundly as his previous fights he would be very well positioned to compete for the UFC featherweight world title, currently held by Islam Makhachev, who has an impressive 24-1 record. Whether Topuria makes it that far or falls by the wayside only time will tell, but what is clear is that he is a rising star and has the potential to be the first Spanish UFC champion. Something that, if achieved, will not only be making history, but also, perhaps, will awaken interest in contact sports in a country as reactive to them as Spain is.
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