Goodbye to a glorious 2024: Topuria on UFC titles - and fighting at the Bernabéu in 2025
After enjoying a career-defining year in 2024, winning the Featherweight Championship on two occasions, UFC fighter Ilia Topuria spoke to AS.
Without a shadow of a doubt, UFC star Ilia Topuria has been one of the stand-out sportspeople of 2024. In February, the Hispano-Georgian won his first Featherweight Championship by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski, a legend in the division. Eight months later, he then left fans open-mouthed when he repeated the feat against Max Holloway, another all-time great featherweight fighter.
Topuria’s abilities inside the Octagon, combined with his charismatic personality, have helped bring mixed martial arts to the fore in Spain - a country he has called home since he relocated from Georgia as a teenager. Nicknamed ‘El Matador’, the 27-year-old remains unbeaten in 16 fights as a professional, having won six by knockout and triumphed in the first round no fewer than nine times. He has developed into a UFC sensation, a fighter who attracts adulation from MMA fans wherever he goes.
Topuria sat down with AS to discuss what has been a career-defining 2024, and to look forward to the challenges of the year ahead:
This has been your year. You won the UFC Featherweight Championship, then defended in it in emphatic fashion. You’ve established yourself as one of the best, most sought-after fighters in UFC. How do you feel about everything that has happened to you?
2024 has been a year where pretty much everything I had in mind, the fundamental goals I had set myself, came to pass. For me, this year has been all about proving to myself that everything is possible. It’s been an experience that has made me really happy - and one that I feel so grateful for. At the same time, given that it’s something that I had spent so much time visualizing over the years, it didn’t come as a surprise to me. But I feel ever so grateful.
You fought two sensational bouts against two UFC featherweight legends, knocking them both out. That’s a historic feat that nobody had achieved before you. Which fight do you look back on most fondly?
The one against Alexander Volkanovski. Your first time is always special.
Did your experiences of the two title fights differ at all? Batting for your first championship and defending your crown - they’re two very different situations.
To be honest, my mindset has been pretty much the same for every fight I’ve had. Regardless of the level of my opponent and of the magnitude of the fight, every bout has represented an obstacle in my path, and my job has been to clear those obstacles, one by one. This has been a defining year in my life, and every fight has been really tough.
You’ve criss-crossed the globe both for fights and for training camps. The United States, Abu Dhabi… What has been your favorite destination this year?
It was really great to return to my roots, to Georgia. [Topuria was born in Germany, before moving to Georgia, his parents’ native country, at the age of seven. At 15, he and his family settled in Alicante, Spain, fleeing conflict with Russia.]
Of your two title-winning bouts, which witnessed the most impressive knockout blow, would you say?
The one that gave me the Featherweight Championship in February, in Anaheim. [Topuria hit Volkanovski with a left-handed punch, followed by two right-handers, to floor the Australian and steal his crown].
Before facing Volkanovski and Holloway, you stated confidently that you’d knock them out. How does it feel to see your predictions come true?
I feel like it’s because I’ve made it happen: everything I’ve said has been backed up by hard work, by a total commitment to the cause, by spending hours and hours honing my craft… There’s no great secret behind the things I say: they simply have to be based on the hard graft you’ve put in. So it feels good, but it’s only because I’ve worked hard to make it happen.
The UFC has said it plans to hold its first ever event in Spain next year. Do you have any news on that?
Nothing concrete, but what we do know is that we’re going to do everything we can to make it happen, for the UFC to come to Spain in 2025. We’re fighting hard for it to be at the Bernabéu. [A Real Madrid fan, Topuria wants the LaLiga club’s home stadium to host UFC, but the organization’s CEO, Dana White, is reluctant to use soccer arenas as some seats will be too far away from the Octagon.] We need to persuade Dana; I’ll get up there with whoever.
2024 has been a great 12 months for you - a year that will be tough to surpass. What are your hopes and expectations for 2025?
I hope to keep on drawing better and better performances out of myself, to keep on outdoing myself. I’ve set myself new goals, and I’m determined to meet them.
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