One of the biggest fights of the weekend includes a highly anticipated debut on the UFC 312 prelims.
Away from the very top names that are set to headline the UFC’s return to Sydney, Australia on February 8 is a new arrival in the promotion who has generated a lot of interest.
Anyone who is linked to the featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, is going to arrive on the global stage with high expectations, let alone his own brother.
A middleweight rematch and a brilliant matchup at strawweight may be the fights that involve UFC gold on Saturday night but fight fans want to know whether Aleksandre Topuria will be able to work his way to the top of the sport.
‘El Cazador’ is the older of the two siblings but he undoubtedly has big shoes to fill when following in Ilia’s footsteps after what ‘El Matador’ has been able to accomplish.
Ilia Topuria’s manager says that his brother can dominate bantamweight in just a few years
Ilia Topuria only debuted in the UFC back in 2020 meaning that in the space of four years, he went from being a relatively unknown quantity to one of the best fighters in the sport today.
At 28-years-old, the 145-pound star has taken over and now his brother will look to do the same at the weight class below.
Aleksandre Topuria will step foot inside the Octagon for the first time at the Qudos Bank Arena where he takes on the undefeated Australian, Colby Thicknesse, on the UFC 312 prelims.
From first impressions alone, the older Topuria brother’s MMA career so far doesn’t exactly leap off the page having amassed a 5-1 record after making his debut back in 2015.
The people around him aren’t fazed by this and they’re extremely confident that he has what it takes to thrive at the highest level.
Lukasz Orzel, who is the manager of the siblings having known them for close to a decade, recently gave the following statement to Red Corner MMA where he claimed that despite Ilia’s rise being incredibly impressive, Aleksandre isn’t just able to replicate it, he can do it even faster.
“If it took Ilia 4 years to become a champion, Aleksandre can do it even quicker. I give it 2-3 years.”
The roles are reversed for Aleksandre and Ilia Topuria at UFC 312
Fight fans have been hearing Ilia Topuria talk about his brother’s UFC debut for some time now but his plans were put on standby hence why there has been some delay.
Aleksandre Topuria has proven himself to be a great coach for his brother and in 2024, with huge fights against Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, his attention was needed in the corner rather than in the cage.
‘El Matador’ will now be the one coaching his brother in the UFC whilst across from them, Volkanovski will corner Colby Thicknesse as the former featherweight champion looks to help his teammate secure the win in front of a home crowd in Sydney.
It might not be too long before both corners in this fight swap roles in order for Topuria to defend the featherweight title against Volkanovski in a rematch of their UFC 298 encounter.