Aleksandre Topuria, the elder brother of UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, is set to make his debut in the promotion this weekend. With Ilia’s success, many fans are expecting Aleksandre to live up to his brother’s high standards, but the debutant isn’t feeling the pressure.
Living up to Ilia would be a tall task for anyone, let alone his own brother. ‘The Spaniard’ not only managed to capture the featherweight belt last year, he did so by knocking out one of the greatest champions in the division, Alexander Volkanovski. As if that wasn’t enough, he followed it up by winning against Max Holloway for his first title defense. Holloway has been in the UFC since 2012 and has held titles at both featherweight and lightweight without ever being finished in a fight until Topuria knocked him out at UFC 308.
Imagine following that up!
However, Aleksandre claims that fighting doesn’t stress him out. Much like Khabib Nurmagomedov who has admitted to feeling a lot more stressed about Islam Makhachev’s fights, Alexandre finds himself being nervous while in his brother’s corner. In a conversation with Shak MMA before his debut, Aleksandre said,
“ I feel pressure when I stay with him(Ilia) and show him the correct things he has to do inside the cage. He knows what he has to do but when you coaching and you’re in a position like head coach. He wants me in this position all the time like I want him in this position.”
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Regardless, Ilia’s success has meant that there are certain expectations from Aleksandre. Besides, with only 6 fights in his pro-MMA career, questions are being raised about his ascend to the UFC. It normally takes fighters years to slog it out in smaller ‘indie’ promotions to get a spot on a UFC card.
However, the Topurias’ manager Lukasz Orzel believes Alexandre’s quick rise to the big leagues will be reflected in his performances.
Bantamweight’s own Topuria
“It took Ilia 4 years to become a champion. Aleksandre can do it even quicker“, Orzel claimed in a conversation with Red Corner MMA.
“Now the bantamweight division will have its own Topuria,” says Lukasz Orzel, who manages the MMA careers of Ilia and Alexandre and has known the brothers since 2016. Alexandre (5-1 in MMA) makes his UFC debut this weekend at #UFC312 in Sydney, Australia. pic.twitter.com/JeID7D65jV
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) February 5, 2025
That is a lot to expect from the debutant, especially since the bantamweight division currently has a dominant champion in Merab Dvalishvili, whose cardio works like a cheat code. Chasing him are former champion Sean O’Malley, and title contender Cory Sandhagen, who are likely to fight for a shot at the belt.
Then there is Umar Nurmagomedov, another rising prospect, who is expected to be at the top of the division soon. Following him are Petr Yan, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Marlon Vera!
These are only the top 6 ranked fighters at bantamweight, each of them is only a win or two away from challenging for the title. To even reach this position, Aleksandre will have to fight at least thrice a year and annihilate all his opponents to even be considered. So, right now, the best he can do is just focus on getting himself in the win column on debut.
