Now for our main event on the biggest stage, Ilia the Matador Topuria. It doesn't matter what what what people say or what what people think about me. I know that I'm going to be the biggest superstar in the UFC because of all the things you are going to see. February 2024, Ilia Tupora walks into the octagon. Across from him is Alexander Vulcanowski, the pound-for-pound king. For years, Alex seemed like an unsolvable puzzle that nobody could figure out. But here's the thing. 2 months prior to the fight, Ilia goes viral after changing his Instagram bio. 15-0 UFC world champion. despite being 14 and0 at the time. No belt, no title shot yet, but to him it was already done. It doesn't stop there. Ilia goes on a press tour telling the media exactly what's going to happen in the fight. I see myself knocking him him out in the first two rounds. Go. Let's do it. And the silence that followed said everything. A few months later, Ilia made the same call against Max Holloway. Ilia, why do you think that you're the person that can knock out Max? He's never been knocked out in his career. Because he never faced Ilatouya. He never faced El Matador. He never faced someone like me. Never. And you already know how that ended. Massive knockdown for he does it again. And here's the part that nobody talks about. It's not just Ilia. All the greatest champions, they predict the future like their fortune tellers. All of you chumps are going to bow when I whoop him. I know you got him picked, but the man's in trouble. I'm going to show you how great I am. You can call me Mystic Mac because I predict these things. Now, the real question is, what's the secret? The year 1992, a war broke out in the country of Georgia. What started a fight for territory became something darker. Over 10,000 civilians were killed. More than 200,000 ethnic Georgian were forced from their homes. Ilia Tuporia's parents, Zaza and Ingga, escaped the genocide and fled to Germany. That's where he was born in 1997 alongside his brother Alexander. Ilia was only four when he looked at his brother and said, "Let's wrestle." It didn't seem like much, but that moment would shape the rest of their lives. With 4 years old, my my dad put me with my brother in in julo. Ilia and his brother trained in different martial arts growing up. When he was seven, the war had ended and it was time to return to Georgia. That's when they started Greco Roman wrestling, the first sport they dedicated themselves to. Things in Georgia weren't good. There was no money, no stability, just chaos. So, their parents left for Spain hoping to build something better, leaving Ilia and his brother behind. The war started once my parent leave us year after or something like that in 2008. when you are 8 9 years old and you dealing with that kind of situation and you don't have your your heroes with you which are your parents with with with that age it's a little bit difficult but at this moment I appreciate everything that I lived because it creates the man I am today Georgia wasn't the safest place to grow up in the country was still recovering from war and the streets had their own rules Georgia I was fighting every day. Their mother, Inga, was quoted saying, "It was not rare. It was a daily routine. Whenever they were in the streets, they were fighting. Imagine multiple boys would appear. They would come out and tell you they wanted your hat and your belt. There were three ways. Giving up, running away, and fighting. Ilia and Alexander always preferred to fight, and at the end of the day, they always had their hat and belt. We had a difficult times but today I appreciate everything that that I lived because I wouldn't be here without that that experience. Zaza Tupoya worked 7 days a week doing whatever it took to bring his sons to Spain and give his family a fresh start. Their coach in Georgia thought they had a great future in Greco Roman wrestling. He always said he could turn them into Olympic champions. However, life takes turns and children have to be at their parents' side. A gold medal is nice, but being with your parents is more important. Then we moved to Spain when I was 15 years old and completely by chance. We find the gym and we started training the the MMA, the mix martial arts. Totally by chance. Totally by chance. We wanted to keep with the with the with the crack wrestling, but they didn't had the culture of that sport. We were a little bit sad, you know, because we wanted that sport. My brother was really really good. I didn't know anything about the mixed martial arts. I didn't know anything anything about the BJJ, the ground game, any thing. My mom saw in the street a a a man with a cauliflow ear. You you know, you can identify very fast a wrestler or a fighter. You see that, you know, not to with that person. She went to to him and she asked him like, "Uh, what you doing? Because my kids want to to do wrestling. Do you train in in some gym or or something?" And he said, "No, I'm doing the BJJ. Bring your kids and I'm going to I'm going to show you the gym." She came to home and my dad and and my mom and they started to convince us like there's a gym they are practicing like jujitsu MMA all the sports and um I was like but what the is this I don't know what's this and my dad start started to show me the videos of the Gracies he he he told me like this one of the best sports in the world right now you are going to guys love it this and that and at that day we went to the gym and I fell in love since the first second since the day we we step in. We we didn't came out until now. [Music] I didn't know even how to say hello, you know. [Music] [Music] And I was training all the time. The coach was explaining me all the techniques in Spanish. And I learned to talk in Spanish like in 6 months. And I was young, you know, when you are young, it's a little bit easy. When I was 15 years old, I go with my brother to talk with to my father and and we tell him like, "Hey, dad, we don't want to uh go to school anymore, but we we we really want to train and we going to go like all day every day in the gym and we going to we're going to train because my dream was to get to to fight in the UFC." And he told me like, "If you really going to train all the time like you tell me, you have my my approval." And you just went to the gym all day. All day. All day. And I start with my brother. We were like the first people to go inside the gym and the last ones to live it. So we were studying every day all day like so obsessed. We were watching like all the videos of Julio Cesar Chavez of Canelo all that practicing all the techniques and then and we were drilling that the whole day all the drilling. uh single legs, double legs, I don't know the cage work, boxing, kickboxing, elbows, knees, I don't know, whatever. How can we develop our kari or or stren or power or whatever? I was like so obsessed with everything. I was working all day, every day. That was my obsession. But there's not a professional UFC fighter that's coaching you guys with your career. No, not even a professional boxer or professional at all. No one. After two years of training, he was ready for his MMA amateur debut. But there was a problem. Then the opportunity came in the least expected way. His debut fight happened in front of the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. When I was 17 years old, they did a competition called it uh Arnold Fighters. You know, it was a anime competition. And when I go to the competition, my my fight was the first fight, you know, and before I start to fight, Arnold come to come to the cage, you know, and he watch just my fight. Wow. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] One year after his amateur debut, when Ilia turned 18, he stepped into his first professional fight. [Laughter] From the opening seconds, Toro was in control. He took his opponent down, locked him in a crucifix, grounded and pounded him, then without hesitation, finished him with a reverse triangle. Despite how fighting made him nervous, it didn't stop him. Just one month after his debut, Tupora stepped in again. 63 seconds later, his opponent was unconscious from a rare naked joke. He was only 18 and already a problem. That's when it became clear this wasn't luck, this was something else. So, from Spain to get to the UFC was so difficult. I had to do so many crazy things to to get to the UFC. I did four fights in Spain and at some point it was so difficult to find a fight for me because in Spain at that point we didn't even had an events you know I was like listen I have to do something because no one is going to come to me and touch my door I start to talk to myself I'm like what can I do that point Gustafson Alexander Gustafson was fighting for the belt against John Jones and that guy was training in in Sweden in Allstars gym at that time and that was the the the most recognized like gym in Europe. So I'm like I I need to go there because I know that someone is going to see me and the only thing I need is I need an opportunity. I need a I need a fight. I need to pro my my skills. Then I had the second problem that I didn't have enough money to to travel because you need money to to go from Spain to to Sweden and stay there. I don't know for 2 weeks, 3 weeks, whatever. So I did I don't know crazy things with with when I was 18 years old I was working in in fours you know what were the jobs the four jobs one of one was a cashier right at uh divarios yeah yeah yeah I was doing grappling classes and at in another gym I was working in on the beach and I was working on securityurities on on the weekends Oh wow I went to my my first training I finished the training And the guy who who was representing everyone at that time and actually he's the manager of Kamzad also at this time Kamzat Chimay you know once I finished the training he came to me and he asked me like do you have a a manager I'm like no do you want me to represent you and I'm like this is why I came here ladies and gentlemen to the bull corner Ilia in one week he called me like I have a fight for you. I started to fight in Finland. My first international fight. I finish him in the first round. [Applause] [Applause] Ladies and gentlemen, winner by Guillotine Choke, Ilia Doria. Three weeks later, Ilia gets the call to fight for Cage, but unfortunately, he wasn't allegible to win the belt. Ilia came in almost 5 lbs over the weight limit. Ilia signed with Brave FC and ran through everyone they put in front of him. Then he had a perfect knockout that made it impossible for the UFC to not notice him. Here, let me show you this. There's this guy, Ilia Tapora, and Ilia Taporia is uh one of the absolute best fighters in the world. And the dude is just phenomenal. 2020 was supposed to be a banner year, a year now defined by a global pandemic. The NBA is suspending the season. While sports across the globe go dark, Dana White says the show will go on for UFC. I don't give a I get the call. Oh, that's co. Yeah, that's CO. I was sick. I test positive like 10 days before the fight and they call me and they told me, do you want to fight in the UFC in 8 days? And I'm like, of course. I had to cut like 12 kilos. I had to spend a day in the hospital because the UFC is asking you for a lot of uh medicals. Then I had to go I spend a day to get my visa. I had in reality 5 days [Music] There's the newcomer to just lovely suplex there by Tapora. He's switching it. And this is what Tapora does. It's non-stop. One submission to the next. He changed things together so well. for your winner by unanimous decision. He is still undefeated. Ilia [Applause] [Music] Ilia became the first Georgian black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu along with his brother Alex. Although the brothers started their journey together, as Ilia's career took off after signing to the UFC, Alex seemed to get left behind. This year's sign since 2015, I become Ilia Topury as my brother's coach. But when Ilia get the UFC contract, I start to train harder and little by little like make fights when Ilia don't have fights. It's it was like a little bit difficult to me. My sacrifices, my hard work, you know, to like cancel my fight, to dedicate myself to him and everything like that. It was not just for him for sure. It was for me too. If your brother is better than you, it's like I'm very happy for him. And I will do everything to make that happen. That one day they going to say Ilia the greatest. This is what I want. This is my goal. And still it's still my goal. Everything I do is for my family. And if I have to put on the side sport, my career or something like that because of one of the my family members, I will not think to twice. When Alexander saw the opportunity in front of Ilia, he didn't hesitate and did what any loyal brother would do. He stepped back, putting his career on hold and made sure his brother was ready for what they'd worked their whole life for. Ilia came into the UFC quiet. No hype train, no marketing push, but once the cage door closed, it didn't matter. Three fights, three knockouts, all violent, all clean. He made it look easy. Unbelievable knockout. By his fourth fight, the UFC had seen enough. They gave him Bryce Mitchell, undefeated, ranked, and expected to be a real problem. Wow, Ragd Doll. Look at this. Oh, that's right. He tapped. Still undefeated. But it wasn't just Ilia's fighting skills that got him here. It was his mentality. Many people needs to see to believe. I believe and then I see it. Ilia is obviously talented. Everything is so sharp. His technique is flawless. Everything's flawless. His boxing is so dangerous. He's so dangerous everywhere. He's dangerous with submissions. He's dangerous with kicking. He's dangerous. His heart is dangerous. He isn't just a killer in the ring. His success starts with his strategic thinking. His fighting IQ is top tier. Tactically, he's so smart. You know, so it's not just his ability, his skill. It's knowing when to apply it and how to adjust to different kinds of fighters. But his strategy extends beyond fighting. He's also calculated in his trash talking, social media presence, and career plan. Last time he got a hand sanitizer bottle bounced off his pod. I don't understand you anything like for example, he started recording footage to make a documentary about becoming a UFC champion years before he even had a title fight. Why? Because Ilia thinks long term. when I start with the with the Greco Roman wrestling, my dream always was to become a Olympic champion, right? So, it was always in my head that in everything I I was doing, I I my dream always was to to to be the the best best in in anything I was doing. So, when I start with MMA, I was like, which is the biggest competition in the in the mix and martial arts? They told me the UFC show. Since the first day, I was like, I will become a UFC world champion. I never was like, I want to become a UFC world champion. Will become a UFC world champion. Most people want immediate success. They chase quick wins, shortcuts, anything that feels like progress. Now, it works in the short term, but it cost them later on. Ilia is different. he's playing a longer game and it's hard to beat someone who's thinking years ahead while you're focusing on the next few weeks. That kind of mindset goes against human nature. But it works because real results don't come fast. They come from consistency over time. Warren Buffett made 99% of his net worth after 65. Conor McGregor made most of his wealth after 10 years in the game. It compounds in business, in fighting, in life. Ilia stays patient because he knows the work he's doing today pays off tomorrow and years from now. He shows up with a plan. And sure, most fighters say they do, too. But in real life, most people don't. They just show up and hope for the best. So ask yourself, where could you be if you are the one with the plan when no one else has one? I wake up in the morning, I pray and I feel thankful about everything that's happening to me for the opportunity and I thank the God before I'm getting the victory. Thanking to him like, "Thank you for the victory." As a kid, my coach in Gregor Ral wrestling, he used to say, "You win the medals in the training. You just go to collect them in the in in the fight." And this has downsides. You know, the confidence it's very good. It could be called cocky though and a lot of people feel like there's some pressure that comes with that. Not for me because I work hard. It's hard work and dedication. I work so hard. I know everything that I did that I did everything that I could and there's no way that I'm not going to walk out from that octagon with the victory. From there is where the confident comes from. But the best military leaders throughout history have used the exact same tactic. In the art of war, Sunzu says, "So in war, the ways to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable at night. And when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." Ilia uses strategy to his advantage, visualizing the fight before it even starts. He sees the outcome in his head, then makes it happen. When I get the confirmation of the fight and I started watching his fights, I was like, I'm going to knock him out in the first round. There's no way he's going to imagine. I can show you our videos making the the study of Charles like, "Oh, that's how you guys study. Wait, what is this?" He gives me the resume of all his fights, all the punches he he choose, everything he does and in which place in the octagon he feels comfortable like for example like the corner of the of the octagon is the number one, the middle is the number two, this place is the number three. So we see in all his fights where's the number that he feels more comfortable. So I'm not going to give you the chance the chance to be there. I'm going to I'm going to fight for that place. I'm going to put you in a place where you don't feel comfortable, where you don't know how to fight. It's the same approach Conor McGregor used at his prime. Breaking down opponents before the fight and finishing them exactly how he said he would. Is this your toughest test today? If Connor could fight half as good as he can speak, you know, I think it would be. Dustin thinks it's all talk, but when he wakes up with his nose plastered on the other side of his face, he's going to know it's not all talk. You know what's even more genius? He worked on the exact same thing and he mimicked what he was going to do in the green room. There's video of him. Of who? Connor. Conor. Connor pretending to be Aldo and then him showing what he's going to do in counter. He does the exact move in the green room knowing in the dressing room knowing that that's going to be the fight. Smiling. Oh. How do you do that? How do you predict these? If you can see it here and you have the courage enough to speak it, it will happen. There's a Steve Jobs quote that ties all this together. He said, "Innovation is saying no to a thousand things so you can say yes to the one thing that matters." Ilia takes this to another level. He combines discipline and mental focus to do the boring work that no one else wants to do, but brings the best results. Many people in MMA have one specific focus they're known for. Max Holloway is a boxer. Khabib is a wrestler. Alex Pereira is a striker. But Ilia is perhaps the most well-rounded fighter in the UFC right now. People see a guy who can strike like you do. They kind of forget about the ground game. You know, they forget that your ground game is very elite, too. you know, which is really interesting because you tend to put people in categories of danger, but with you, it's all danger. And that's because he works on everything, not just the stuff he enjoys. He's now known for his boxing, even though he grew up doing wrestling at BJJ. All of the greats do this boring work. Warren Buffett spends 6 hours a day reading annual reports. Stephen Curry would shoot 500 shots per day, every day. So, the question here is, what is the boring stuff that would help me get ahead, but I'm too lazy to do it? Ilia has high standards. He doesn't settle for mediocracy. He doesn't just want to win a few fights. He wants to become champion. And once he's champion, he wants to be one of the greatest of all time. This is an idea that's echoed in all fields. If you want to be great, you have to aim to be the best. So my mindset always was the the same exactly the same as I have right now. I'm like if someone did it I also can do it and if no one did it I can be the first one to do it. This is the mental. It's not to look up to some to look down to someone. It's not because of that. It's I want to experience that that also how it feels to be the the number one guy. After a 5-0 start in the UFC, there was only one name between Ilia and a title shot. Josh Emtt, his first top five opponent. Right now, Ilia is showing the next level. But I showed once again that no one can match my level of skill. I'm the next guy without any doubt. I come what deserves to me, which is to be the number one to take that US belt. And I want Alex to defend that belt. What's next year? I'm going to wait for my title shot. I'm the next guy in the line. I can wait. One of the best skills I have is the patience. There is nothing in this life that can break my mentality. I show it tonight that no one can match my level of skill inside the cage. Tapori is a nightmare. Yes, he is. He's a nightmare. Yeah, he's he's scary. What he did to Josh EMTT, I was like, oh man, he's nasty. Ilia was now the number one contender, first in the line to challenge Vulcganowski, the pound-for-pound king. Vulcganowski was in the middle of one of the greatest title runs the division had ever seen. Too good. Holy dare say he's the goat. Ilia been running his mouth. If he wants to keep going, I'll show him what's up and I'll squash him, too. He just seemed to be the unsolvable puzzle in the featherweight division. But Ilia seems to be confident that he had the answers. He's saying a lot of [ __ ] There is levels. I have this and I have that that. Yes, you're right. There are levels. There are levels. Then there is me. I'm going to dominate him in everywhere. Everywhere. I'm going to make him look like a punching bag. You will see. I'm going to I will be dancing February 17. This is one of the best fighters in the world. One of the best fighters of all time. And you're talking like you're fighting me. You are you are talking to the best fighters in the world right now to be honest. One of the greats. I don't care who believes in me and who not. The only one I need to believe in in in myself, it's me and I do it. Ilia is so confident he changes his Instagram bio to 15-0 UFC world champion before the fight. Suddenly, everyone was watching. You know, you're someone's going to have to go onto their their bio on their Instagram and change it literally themselves. So, what a humbling experience that's going to be. Do you think if you beat Alex, if all goes according to how you when you beat him, as you would say, it would be immediate rematch or do you think you would fight someone else? The way I'm going to beat him, they don't even going to ask me about the rematch. Wow. I believe that he'll be getting taught a lesson, maybe a bit of humbling. Uh maybe he's a good kid, but he is a definitely uh confident uh cocky, I would say. Uh some people may say it's a little bit delusional. I've said that myself. And now for our main event. Every day I wake up, I say to myself, you have two options right now. Keep dreaming with your dreams or wake up and make it reality. And I choose the second option always. I'm going to prove myself that it doesn't matter where you come from if you know where you're going and it's much more important what's in front of you than what's behind you. Yeah. You just have to trust yourself, work tirelessly, have faith and everything is possible in this life. It doesn't matter what what what people say or what what people think about me. I know that I'm going to be the biggest superstar in the UFC because of all the things you are going to see. It's fight day and Ilia did everything he said he would and said it first [Music] and when you have the dreams and you are a kid and you are able to achieve and you you look up and you see yourself in the screen and Dana is putting you the belt around. I visualize that moment so many times. look at myself in the in the mirror after the the shower or something and like closing the eyes and visualizing all that things and then see it in reality. It's something that you can't describe with a simple you don't sleep. It's impossible to sleep. [Music] You had world champion and 15-0 in your Instagram bio, but I noticed that's not there anymore. Is there any particular there's now like a quote there? Yeah, because right now my my goal before this fight was to become a UFC world champion. Right now I'm UFC World Champion. So I have a different goals right now. I want to be a legend. I just write the the history. Right now it's time to to write the the legend. Winning the belt was just the beginning. Ilia's vision extends beyond the title and it starts with Max Holloway. UFC 300. How good is this, folks? Holloway just told us sit right here. One second to go. [Applause] Oh my goodness. That'll do it. An absolute stunner at 300. That was crazy. That's a warrior. Say I'm him. I'm him, guys. Guys, there's the El Malador. He is running away from Abu at 145. Time to sign the gun contract. But you know the technique behind that knockout and it was zero. just a exchange and a bar. I mean, your face says otherwise. So, it is what it is, brother. I challenge you to to have that that exchange, but in the first 10 seconds of the fight, and you will see what's going to happen. When you face a fighter like me inside the octagon who brings that technique and that power, you can do that. He has a great chin. I don't want never ever to people to know me as as the greatest chin in the UFC. That means that I take a lot too much. Too much. I don't want that. I don't want the greatest fight in the UFC history because that means that I have a competitive it was very competitive. I want to dominate people. I want to mo people and this is what I'm going to do with Maxwell. I'm going to make him look easy. We already know who is the world champion. We're going to find out that I'm the BMF. Also, I will be there in the in the middle of the octagon in the first 10 seconds. I want to offer the most excited first seconds in the UFC history. If he stays in the in the mi in the middle of the o in the first 10 seconds of the fight, you're going to see the fastest knock on in the UFC history because I know how good I am inside that do. I'm the best. Trust me, I'm the best. Ilia, why do you think that you're the person that can knock out Max? He's never been knocked out in his career. Because he never faced Ilia. He never faced El Matador. He never faced someone like me. Never. Oh, massive knockdown for Temporia. And still he does it again. Ilia Temporia. Ilia didn't just keep the belt. He became one of the biggest stars in the sport. Seeing you just a few days later walk out on the pitch at the Bernabu with all those legends there and seeing you kick the ball. Like this is not something that UFC champions get, MMA champions get. Seeing you with the president of Spain, seeing the attention that you got in Georgia and in Spain when you landed, seeing you with Lao Messi and all those like this is I don't know if we've ever seen anything like that, you know, even with the likes of Conor McGregor, this type of reception because I called the show before. I I I was saying to everyone like I will become a USC world champion because I sacrificed a lot of things and this and that and I think they find they find like some kind of inspiration and motivation in me you know it was the main reason that I get so much love from them it wasn't because I I just became a USC world champion you know you had a rose in your hand and then you put put the rose pose in the middle of the cage. What What did that signify? Why did you do that? So, it's a Matador thing. You know, every time El Mador in the arena, the people is showing him the the gratitude and the respect, showing him a rose. And after El Matador finish uh the bull, he shows the respect to the bull and he he he chose a rose to do. So, I want to I want to do that. After I finish my opponent, I want to show my condolence and respect to him, to my opponent, and to his team living a rose in the middle of the cage. Here's a guy and his brother living in Georgia go to Spain. This is not a UFC market. And then you guys through YouTube watching videos, you train independently on your own and then you come up and then fighter of the year, undefeated. We sat down in Anaheim, right? I sat in that room and you had your team and you were telling me all these things that was going to happen and they're all in the side and they're all going, "Yeah, yeah." And I'm like thinking to myself like, "Yo, it's much harder when you're in there with that dude." Exactly. And I even said it to you. But then you go out there and you did all that. Where does that confidence come from? uh from hard work, from all the sacrifices that I know that I'm I'm I'm making in all the training camps I have because I know that there is a God in in the sky who is seeing all the the work you're putting in in in something and in the desire you have. Yeah, I had I had that belief and at the same time I I used to say like this that both faith and and and fear demand you to believe in something that you never saw and I always prefer and things that make me feel happy. There are two type of champions for me like there are champions who prepare themselves to win and there are the other ones who prepare themselves to dominate. I prepare myself not to win because I know that I'm going to win. I I want to win in fashion. I want to dominate. I want to more people. I want people to be entertained. I want people to be like, "Wow, I'm happy that I spend the money this Saturday night going watch this guy." There's people that train to compete. There's people that train to win, and then there's people that train to dominate, to be the greatest of all time. Ilia, you called this. You said you were going to come in here and you were going to knock him out in the first round. Why did you believe that was going to happen? I already said it. I I represent the new generation of the mix of martial arts. This is the next level of the game. What I represent all the time I go inside the octagon, I don't go there just to win. You know what I mean? I want everyone to be like, "Wow, what he just did, how he did it. He was the greatest of all time and he made him look easy." Yeah. This is what I want. I want to change the game. You know, I want you to say your friend, "Watch this guy and learn something." Well, mission accomplished so far, right? So far so good. UFC. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.