UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s older brother Aleksandre Topuria has just signed for the UFC.
A year older than his brother, the 28-year-old Topuria currently holds a 5-1 career record, and likes his sibling he’s proven to be a ruthless competitor in the cage, with all five of his wins so far having come in the first round.
It’s not been plain sailing for ‘El Conquistador’ though, as after quickly winning the first two fights of his career by submission in the space of a month back in 2015, he then suffered a TKO loss just 20 days later.
Rather than rebounding from that loss, Topuria vanished from MMA competition and didn’t re-emerge again until six years later. He has done well since then though, having racked up three TKO victories in barely more than five minutes of combined fight-time on the Spanish regional circuit over the past few years.
Ilia Topuria also began his pro MMA career around the same time as his brother, but he didn’t have any early setbacks and eventually signed for the UFC in late 2020, so it’s possible that his success, which has since led him to a perfect 15-0 record and 145lb title, may have inspired his older sibling to return to the sport.
And the featherweight champ is his brother’s biggest fan, having declared in an interview earlier this year that Aleksandre will be, “the next world champion,” in the sport.
“He’s super technical and everything he does is super showy,” Topuria said. “He is like an artist that makes you enjoy the show.”
