February 17 will always be a special day in the household of Topuria after what 'El Matador' did in 2024
The incredible rise of Ilia Topuria has been one of the biggest points in MMA in recent years.
He represents both Spain and Georgia and arrived in the UFC in 2020 with an unbeaten record of 8-0 with a growing fan base that was already founded in Europe.
From fight to fight, the hype continued to grow around 'El Matador' while he continued to do more impressive versions as the level of opponent began to climb.
This eventually led him to his first shot on UFC Gold, where Topuria again cleaned up this obstacle again after he could end an iconic title.
Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty images
Ilia Topuria and his family Serenade de Vederweight title on the birthday of UFC 298
On UFC 298, Ilia Topuria proved once and for all that he is the real deal by stopping Alexander Volkanovski in the second round to become the featherweight champion.
There were questions about Volkanovski's decision to take the fight shortly after his knockout loss at UFC 294, but no one could deny that Topuria was here to stay.
The most exciting thing about his title line is that it still feels that we can still scratch the surface of what 'El Matador' could achieve in this sport.
He has elevated ambitions to be a champion in multiple weights and bring the Octagon to Spain, but that would not all be possible if he did not get his hand exactly a year ago in Anaheim, California.
Topuria posted a video on his Instagram story on 17 February of him and his family who sing a happy birthday in Spanish before he turned the camera to reveal that the subject of the parties was his 145-pound title.
Ilia Topuria may not stay much longer at featherweight
Despite celebrating the birthday of his featherweight title profit, Ilia Topuria has made it very clear that he wants to compete earlier outside the division instead of later.
The champion does not want to leave his title to make the switch to lightweight, but it seems that his days are numbered as a 145-ponder.
It seems that a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski is still on the maps, which is only honest for 'the big' given the reign he produced before he was stopped by Topuria last year.
Apart from that fight, unless a top candidate produces a kind of statement performance, it is certainly not excluded that 'El Matador' is literally looking for larger challenges.
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