Ilia Topuria quickly became the largest current star in the UFC and one fan has unpacked a lot of money for a piece of his history.
On June 28, the International Fight Week of the UFC was completed with the monumental UFC 317 event, at the head an empty lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira.
Topuria continued with the separation of Oliveira from consciousness in the first round and became the new lightweight champion and completed a legendary run of three Ko victories in a row over three UFC legends.
And with that victory, 'El Matador' joined a small group of hunters to win a UFC title in two different weight classes, in which he joined Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and others.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Ilia Topuria Trading Card Breaks Record for the most expensive UFC card of all time
Last year the UFC announced an exclusive multi-year trading card partner with TOPPS, which was a big problem for UFC Collectible fans.
And then the promotion announced that debuting hunters will wear a 'Rookie' patch on their Walkout -Uniform that will be immediately removed after an event and is put on a rare trade card.
Over the years, a number of extremely expensive UFC trading cards have been sold, including McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In 2021 a tops Chrome McGregor card was sold for no less than $ 73,800 and at that time it was the most expensive UFC card of all time.
However, a signed Rookie card of the Khabib debut year in the UFC was sold for a huge $ 80,000, which took first place.
Despite the fact that, during a recent Goldin auction, a 1/1 Topuria card broke the record for the most expensive UFC card of all time when it was sold for $ 101,000 in a private sale.
The card is from the Topuria smoking year in the UFC that came in 2020 during the COVID-19 UFC era.
What is the next step for Ilia Topuria?
Now reigning over the 155LB division, there are various options for Topuria, but fans still hope to see a super fight between him and the Islam Makhachev.
After his victory, the Spaniard faced Paddy Pimblett, to the great disgust of Dana White who revealed after the event that it should not have happened, because that is 'not the fight'.
What the next one is for Topuria, but it is not to be denied that he will continue his rise as the biggest star in sport.