February 17 will always be a special day in the Topuria household after what ‘El Matador’ did in 2024
The incredible rise of Ilia Topuria has been one of the biggest talking points in MMA for the past few years.
Representing both Spain and Georgia, he arrived in the UFC back in 2020 with an undefeated record of 8-0 with a growing fanbase already being established in Europe.
From fight-to-fight, the hype around ‘El Matador’ continued to grow as he continued to put on more impressive performances as the level of opponent began to climb.
This eventually led him to his first shot at UFC gold where Topuria once again cleared this hurdle with ease after bringing an iconic title reign to an end.
Ilia Topuria and his family serenade the featherweight title on the anniversary of UFC 298
At UFC 298, Ilia Topuria proved once and for all that he is the real deal by stopping Alexander Volkanovski in the second round to become the featherweight champion.
There were questions about Volkanovski’s decision to take the fight soon after his knockout loss at UFC 294 but no one could deny that Topuria was here to stay.
The most exciting thing about his title reign is that at just 28-years-old, it still feels like we’re scratching the surface of what ‘El Matador’ could go onto achieve in this sport.
He has lofty ambitions of being a champion in multiple weights and bringing the Octagon to Spain but none of that would be possible if he didn’t get his hand raised exactly one year ago in Anaheim, California.
Topuria posted a video on his Instagram story on February 17 of him and his family singing happy birthday in Spanish before turning the camera around to reveal that the subject of the celebrations was his 145-pound title.
Ilia Topuria may not stay at featherweight for much longer
Despite celebrating the anniversary of his featherweight title win, Ilia Topuria has made it very clear that he wants to compete outside of the division sooner rather than later.
The champion doesn’t want to vacate his title in order to make the move up to lightweight but it does seem like his days as a 145-pounder are numbered.
It does appear that a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski is still on the cards which is only fair to ‘The Great’ considering the reign that he produced before being stopped by Topuria last year.
Outside of that fight, unless a top contender produces some sort of statement performance, it’s certainly not out of the question that ‘El Matador’ will be in search of bigger challenges, literally.