UFC’s rising prospect, Georgia born up Ilia Topuria has made a name for himself in the promotion since day one. The no.14 ranked UFC featherweight has had some amazing performances in the promotion so far. He is undefeated in his MMA career and is riding an amazing 12-fight winning streak. In his four-fight UFC career, he has three wins by knockout, and two of those wins came in the very first round. Now he is all set to fight his toughest battle to date in his pro MMA career. Ilia Topuria will be facing Bryce Mitchell on December 10, 2022, at UFC 282.
Ilia Topuria made his much anticipated UFC debut against Youssef Zalal on October 11, 2020. Ilia dropped on the card as a late replacement for Seung Woo Choi. He won that fight via decision. He has then scored back-to-back wins over. Topuria got first-round knockout wins over Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall, and Jai Herbert.
Ilia Topuria BJJ background
Topuria started his martial arts training in childhood when he joined a Greco-Roman Wrestling school. At the age of 15, he started practicing martial arts at the Climent Club. The Climent brothers are his head coach in his gym. Javi Clement and Agustin Climent are his lead BJJ coaches. Ilia started his professional MMA career in the local Spanish MMA circuit. In 2018, he become the first black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Georgia alongside his brother.
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Right after getting his black belt in BJJ, he got a title fight for the Cage Warriors Bantamweight Championship. He won the fight but did not get the title as he had failed to make weight. He then had a small two-fight winning stint at BRAVE CF before signing with the UFC.
Ilia Topuria’s next fight at UFC 282
Ilia Topuria is now set to fight Bryce Mitchell on December 10, 2022, at UFC 282. This will by far be his toughest challenge in the UFC. Bryce Mitchell is a fellow undefeated featherweight contender. Bryce Mitchell is on a 15-fight winning streak and is undefeated in his professional MMA career. He is 6-0 in the UFC and 15-0 in his MMA career. He made his UFC debut in the finale of the ultimate fighter. Since then he hasn’t looked back and has put out some of the best performances in the UFC. In his last fight, he scored an amazing decision to win over Edson Barboza.
The fight between Ilia Topuria and Bryce Mitchell will be a very interesting fight between two of the top undefeated featherweight prospects. But at the end of the day, someone will have to face defeat. But the winner of this fight will emerge as the next big thing in the UFC’s featherweight division. The fight will take place at UFC 282 card, which is headlined by the vacant UFC light-heavyweight title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.
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