About Ilia Topuria

Ilia Topuria (Georgian: ილია თოფურია; born January 21, 1997) is a Georgian and Spanish professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. A professional since 2015, Topuria is the former UFC Featherweight Champion, becoming the first Georgian and Spanish fighter to win a UFC championship. As of November 18, 2025, he is #2 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.

In 2015, Topuria first began professionally competing in local Spanish mixed martial arts organizations competing mainly at the Featherweight division. He won the vacant MFE Featherweight title before competing in both Cage Warriors and Brave Combat Federation. In 2020, Topuria officially signed with the UFC and won his first 6 fights in the promotion, including a dominant decision win over Josh Emmet which earned him a title shot. Ilia challenged Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 for the UFC Featherweight Championship at February 17th, 2024, winning via knockout in the second round. In October 26th, 2024 Topuria secured his first title defense against the former UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway whom he stopped in the third round at UFC 308. After vacating the belt it was announced that Topuria would face the former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira for the Vacant Lightweight title. Topuria knocked Oliveira in just 2 minutes and 27 seconds becoming the first UFC two-division champion while maintaining an undefeated record.