This is Topuria, a Spaniard who challenges the best fighters in the UFC

“I know I will win. I know I am better than all of these. My dream was always to be the best. Be a legend. I want when they talk about MMA, like it or not, they have to mention me. Ilia Topuria (1997) was born in Germany, grew up in Georgia, and has lived in Alicante since he was a teenager, where he began practicing mixed martial arts, an emerging discipline in martial arts, at the Climent club gym.

It’s human nature to worry, but it doesn’t seem to be something that’s in the DNA of this Hispanic-Georgian, a jiu-jitsu black belt, who practiced Greco-Roman wrestling for many years and is currently is number 9 in the UFC featherweight rankings. Under the nickname El Matador, he flaunts the classic boast of the world of martial arts in the documentary that Movistar Plus+ premiered at the end of April, in which the details of his career, his relationship with his brother, also an MMA fighter, and conversations about what has always been his life’s dream are revealed: to be world champion.

“Either you kill me, or you die. And make sure you kill me because I will rise. So enjoy tonight, because tomorrow you will sleep in pain,” said this fighter who every match in his professional career counts as a win (13-0) and is undefeated in his five fights in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), an American company that conducts fights and a show surrounding the best fighters on the planet. IN Youtube and social networks are driven by the masses and are a competition that attracts the most followers, especially young people.

The interest of viewers is increasing, winning even the highest level boxing competitions. Strength, speed or aggressiveness are some of the qualities of fighters, more complete and skillful when most of them train different martial arts such as Muay Thai, Jiu-jitsu and wrestling or boxing. Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Israel Adesanya O Nate Díaz caused a boom in this sport ten years ago that continues today with other reference names such as Aleksandar Volkanovskithe man who rules the category that Topuria aspires to.

“I will beat the next opponent in the first round”

Following June 24For the first time, the UFC hotshot will headline the event against American Josh Emmett, ranked fifth in the world, in Jacksonville, Florida in an accessible venue about 15,000 people. In competition there are restrictions, such as blows to the throat, spine, groin, genitals or the back of the head, but the risky situations are undeniable. “Fear keeps you from all good things. It takes you away from happiness, success, love. All good things are on the other side of fear. And there is no better feeling than overcoming that fear and feeling like the hero of your own story,” said the fighter in an interview.

For a wrestler, fighting is “chess, it’s playing with the opponent’s mind, she studies him to perfection and makes him surrender.” On the other hand, he admits that he studies his opponent as much as possible and that it is just as important when the fight starts as to see what moves he makes when he is exhausted. “I look at what his natural movements are when he gets tired and then I get instructions from my team to be ready for a certain movement. And that’s where the mental war begins, in which my opponent has no way out and has to surrender – he explains.

Fight, for five rounds, represents a golden opportunity for the fighter, lover of good wine and anti-bullfighting despite his nickname, to fight for the championship belt at the end of the year, provided he beats the American, before whom the only important thing is his appearance in the octagon on the night of the fight. “He will be fighting a superstar. He will be proud to share a cage with me for the rest of his life. He will tell his children that he was there with me once. It’s perfect to finish in first lap», he says in a recent interview in which he says that he believes a lot in God and in which he admits that, counting fights and sponsorships, he can earn more than 100,000 euros a month.

The millionaire who says he wasn’t made to lose: “I feel like I was born for success and happiness,” says the athlete who earned more than a million euros in the last two years and shares his life with businesswoman Giorgina Uzcategui Badell, creator of Future & Energy which sells water purification systems.