The UFC’s lightweight champion has kept busy since winning the title in June.
While there hasn’t been any confirmation as to what will be next for Ilia Topuria, he has recently been warned over his next actions.
Following UFC 317, there has been a lot of talk about who the undefeated champion will face, with many criticizing his decision to downplay a fight with Arman Tsarukyan.
Paddy Pimblett is still hopeful that he’ll face Topuria next but talking about the lightweight contenders that are in the mix hasn’t been the only focus for ‘El Matador’.
Last August, he became part-owner of an MMA promotion that he hopes will have a huge impact.
- LATEST NEWS: UFC lightweight boldly claims Charles Oliveira is facing a better striker than Ilia Topuria in return after brutal KO
Brett Johns returns to the win column by recording rare submission win at WOW 21
In 2024, Ilia Topuria became a part-owner of Spanish MMA promotion, Way of Warrior FC.
As the star status of the UFC’s lightweight champion has continued to grow, it looks like his promotion has also gone from strength to strength, with bigger and better events.
WOW FC returned this past Saturday night with an event held at the Auditorio Marbella in Spain.
For WOW 21, the promotion signed former UFC fighter Brett Johns, who previously competed in the bantamweight division where he went 5-2.
After putting together three consecutive wins inside the Octagon, including a victory where he produced just the second calf slicer in UFC history, he suffered losses to Aljamain Sterling and Pedro Munhoz before winning two more bouts and departing the promotion.
Johns went on to compete for Bellator and the PFL before parting ways with them in 2024 and signing with WOW following the GFL’s cancelled events.
At WOW 21, he closed the show with the incredibly rare Suloev stretch submission, beating Levan Kirtadze in the first round.
- LATEST NEWS: UFC star calls Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev the ‘modern day Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov’
UFC 228 insanely produced two Suloev stretch submissions on the same night
Heading into UFC 228 in September of 2018, Kenny Robertson was the only fighter to hold a UFC win via Suloev stretch, having submitted Brock Jardine at UFC 157.
On the prelims, Brett Johns’ former opponent, Aljamain Sterling, defeated Cody Stamann with the kneebar submission only for this same technique to be replicated on the main card.
Zabit Magomedsharipov may have been an incredibly impressive striker but he was also dangerous on the ground, as he proved when submitting Brandon Davis.
Neither man earned a performance of the night bonus for their performances on this card, which was headlined by Tyron Woodley ending Darren Till’s undefeated run.