Before beginning his extremely dominant run in the UFC, Ilia Topuria was making a name for himself on the regional scene, scoring scary wins.
‘El Matador’ recently shockingly vacated his UFC featherweight title as he announced his permanent move up to the lightweight division.
And with that, the Spaniard was hopeful of an immediate title fight against Islam Makhachev, however, Makhachev will now move up to 170lbs to take on the newly crowned champion, Jack Della Maddalena, who dethroned Belal Muhammad at UFC 315.
Prior to the event, UFC boss Dana White revealed that the result would determine who Ilia Topuria fights next, with him now likely to take on fellow lightweight contender, Charles Oliveira.
Ilia Topuria almost became Cage Warriors bantamweight champion but missed weight horrendously
Before signing with the UFC in 2020, Topuria was fighting for several regional promotions including the UFC feeder promotion, Cage Warriors.
And despite the Spaniard now moving up to compete at 155lbs, Topuria was once shockingly fighting at 135lb.
He began his career at featherweight before making his bantamweight debut in 2018 when he picked up a submission win at CAGE 43.
Topuria was then signed by Cage Warriors and booked to fight Brian Bouland for the vacant bantamweight title at Cage Warriors 94 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Just a day before the fight when both fighters attempted to make weight for their title fight, Topuria unprofessionally missed weight by 4.4lbs, meaning that he couldn’t win the title, even if he beat Bouland.
‘El Matador’ of course went on to dominate Bouland from the opening bell, showcasing his capabilities. Within five seconds of the fight, Topuria had already landed a takedown where he began to transition to better positions.
Just a minute and a half into the first round, Topuria caught Bouland in a D’arce choke, choking him unconscious with his devastating squeeze.
Topuria stars in new NFL advert as he continues to wait for fight news
As the 28-year-old continues to wait for news of when his next fight will be and who it will be against, he continues to transcend the sport of MMA.
This coming November, the NFL is scheduled to touch down in Spain for the first time ever, as the Santiago Bernabeu hosts a regular season game between the Washington Commanders and the Miami Dolphins.
And as part of the NFL’s advertisement, they drafted in the help of Topuria, who starred in the announcement advert.
‘El Matador’ is still hopeful of one day headlining a UFC event in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, despite Dana White’s reluctance to host a stadium show.