Ilia Topuria

Ilia Topuria was born on January 21, 1997, in Halle Westfalen, Germany, to Georgian parents. At the age of seven, he moved to Georgia, where he began practicing Greco-Roman wrestling. His family later relocated to Alicante, Spain, when he was 15 years old. Topuria made his professional MMA debut in 2015, quickly establishing a reputation for his submission skills, securing four consecutive wins and earning a belt in the Mix Fight Events promotion. In 2018, he achieved the rank of the first Georgian black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu alongside his brother, Aleksandre Topuria. That same year, he competed for the Cage Warriors Bantamweight Championship, winning the fight, though not the title due to missing weight.

Topuria joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2020. His UFC career has been marked by a series of victories and awards, including multiple Performance of the Night bonuses and a Fight of the Night award. He became the UFC Featherweight Champion on February 17, 2024, by defeating Alexander Volkanovski, and successfully defended this title against Max Holloway on October 26, 2024. In April 2025, Topuria vacated his Featherweight title to move up a weight class. On June 28, 2025, he defeated Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship, becoming the tenth multi-division champion in UFC history and earning the #1 spot in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings.