Ilia Topuria explains why he drinks ‘half a liter’ of red wine the day before he weighs in

Ilia Topuria's rise to fame in the UFC has been one of the most impressive in recent years, with the 27-year-old currently one of the biggest stars in the promotion.

Earlier this year at UFC 298, Ilia Topuria shocked the world when he handed Alexander Volkanovski his second straight KO loss to become the new featherweight champion.

'El Matador' then became the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway when he did exactly what he said he would do and knocked out the lights on 'Blessed' in the third round of their UFC 308 main event.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Ilia Topuria explains why he drinks half a liter of wine before the weigh-in

With Topuria's rise in the UFC being one of the fastest and most impressive in recent memory, the 27-year-old champion has been relatively unorthodox in his approach to his fights.

Before his title fight against Alexander 'The Great', Topuria revealed that he drinks half a liter of wine the day before his weigh-in for his UFC fights and that he and his team are having a party.

'So the thing is that if I drink a pint of wine, and you know on Thursday it's a very hard night for any fighter, because it's a day before the weigh-in, so it's hard to sleep, it's hard to rest, but I drink half a liter of wine.

“I get very excited and I have such a great time with everyone, we change the atmosphere, you know, we don't think about the fights. I go to sleep like a baby and wake up in the morning 2 pounds less due to dehydration.

“Everyone's drunk, everyone's happy, we're having a party, so yeah, and we're fighting for our dreams. Sometimes it is even better to be mentally good than physically good,” the Spaniard told Michael Bisping.

What's next for Ilia Topuria?

After his successful victory over Holloway last month, Topuria looks set to defend his title in a rematch against Volkanovski.

Diego Lopes played a role as a backup for the main event of UFC 308, but the Brazilian contender is now looking to secure a fight against 'The Great' to really cement himself as the next challenger.

Despite this, Volkanovski is confident that he will not fight Lopes again, but will instead wait until Topuria is ready to defend his title in 2025.

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