28-year-old Ilia Topuria’s rise to UFC stardom has been anything but conventional, and neither was his recently revealed break from competition. Addressing weeks of speculation surrounding his personal life, the Georgian-born Spaniard confirmed earlier this month that he would be stepping away from MMA, pushing back against what he described as “false narratives” tied to his turbulent marriage with Giorgina Uzcategui Badell.
Despite the uncertainty, Ilia Topuria, the UFC lightweight king quickly thrust himself back into the spotlight, launching a scathing verbal attack on rival Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev. In fact, Topuria even went so far as to threaten to submit the Dagestani marauder in front of his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov.