Ilia Topuria has silenced all his doubters. The Spaniard put up a masterclass against Alexander Volkanovski in the second round of their UFC 298 fight. Topuria managed to connect with a right hook that sent the former champion buckling to the floor. The Spaniard became the new UFC Featherweight Champion and backed all his talk. Here’s what you need to know about the newly crowned champion’s family.
Ilia Topuria is a family man, as are most Spaniards. They keep their family close to them. Topuria’s parents are Georgians who relocated to Spain with their sons.
‘El Matador’ has a brother named Aleksandre Topuria who recently signed with the UFC. The duo had been training together since they were kids.
View this post on Instagram
Apart from being a loving son and brother, Ilia Topuria is also a father. He has a son with his girlfriend, Giorgina Badell, a Spanish entrepreneur.
View this post on Instagram
There is not much public information about his son. Following his win over Alexander Volkanovski, Topuria revealed that Badell was pregnant with another child.
Ilia Topuria at his babys gender reveal 24 hours after beating Volkanovski pic.twitter.com/ZWNUUMTy4H
— (@ruebencarter02) February 19, 2024
He held a gender reveal party shortly after becoming champion. Badell is pregnant with a daughter, and Topuria looked elated.
The newly crowned champion does not think the Featherweight division has any worthy challengers.
Ilia Topuria claims the Featherweight division ‘sucks’ and no one deserves a title shot
Ilia Topuria is now the champion of the featherweight division and so all eyes are now on him. He dethroned one of the most dominant champions the division has seen.
So naturally, contenders will want to test out the new champion. However, in an interview with Megan Olivi for ESPN MMA, he had this to say:
“Right now, nobody. The division really sucks we need new challengers you know. We need a couple more fighters in the division so we’ll see what’s gonna happen in the future.”
Ilia Topuria says no one in the UFC featherweight division makes sense right now and the division really “sucks”
(: ESPNMMA/Youtube) pic.twitter.com/tFYQY93PCW
— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) February 18, 2024
Ilia Topuria does not have any solid plans for his next fight. However, he did call out Conor McGregor in his octagon interview. Fans are now wondering whether that fight will ever take place.