Stream UFC 298 on ESPN+ https://plus.espn.com/ufc/ppv Jon Anik sits down with Ilia Topuria ahead of his featherweight title fight …
thrilled to be joined by the UFC’s top featherweight Contender the one the only ilot Topia coming up on his first UFC title shot against Alexander volkanovski at UFC 298 it’s good to see you brother how are you to see you mate feeling feel good feel ready to get or Champion you’re both good I just did an interview and they asked me who was the best dressed UFC fighter and I answered kamaru Usman I think I need to go ret tape that cuz you look great so what a quick rise it has been to you for you I should three years well doesn’t feel that way for you huh no I don’t feel so well at least in the UFC 3 years six fights did you expect to to get to the championship setting this quickly yes of course because I always were accepting the fight which were like really difficult like we were talking before about Ryan Hall that was probably one of the most difficult fights I I had because it was like a chest game right yeah it was so I don’t don’t feel that I have a easy way to get what I am writing today but at the same time I don’t know it’s a little bit confused so when you think about your training and your fights and your overall mixed martial arts game what are you better at now than you were when you made your UFC B so I feel that right now I have more patience I have more experience inside the cage before I were like looking more for The Knockout for the submission now I have the patience to wait for that moment you know so in terms of your preparation for Alexander banovski specifically how long has he been on your radar how long have you been at least in thought thinking about game planning and strategizing for bulk so since the first day he become a world champion he was in in my mind I always were thinking on him because I always knew where my real goal was you know and who was the the main guy in the vision so he was always in my mind and I always we training like one day I’m going to face him because the the whole way I’m I’m passing right now going to D me to him so so at times he has knocked your strength of schedule and maybe questioned the level of your competition but you’ve beaten credentials guys Josh EMT Bryce Mitchell Ryan Hall a lot of different stylistic challenges you have suggested though that volkanovski might be one of your your fights and you say that with respect why do you feel that at at the moment he is right now because he lost his last fight he he he talked about his mental problems I feel like he’s not at his 100% right now and me myself too I feel I’m way better than that than him anywhere so if I were to ask you who is the best fighter you have ever faced who would that be best fire I have ever faced it’s a difficult question to answer we don’t have to answer that so let’s go back to your last performance against Josh EMT Main Event in Jacksonville Florida Total Domination outstanding strategy in game plan one of the judges scored it for you 50 to 42 when you and your coaches and your team watch that back what are your thoughts on that those 25 minutes that we did an extremely good job we execut the the strategy we had before the fight I had to just stay patient uh punch him with with the Jabs stay in the distance and that what that was what I did so you’re sort of on this Ascent stardom is creeping in you’re gaining Global recognition obviously you’re a big deal in Spain are you feeling that love and support when you’re in your public life yeah of course I feel a lot of love in Spain and I feel really grateful about that fact you know really thankful yeah it’s great so when you’re out and about in the streets is it a little bit of a different navigation for you people coming up to yeah I’m going to answer you in Spanish but feel more confident so I feel passion from the people and I love that how did you connect with Sergio Ramos he’s been a huge supporter of yours he takt me the in the fight week he told me I want to come to watch you to watch you fight I said it will be a a pleasure yeah you to come so he came what’s that relationship with you like just supporting him and vice versa yeah now we have great relationship sometimes we we text each other and it’s great in this fight we’re going to have a lot of more soccer players right yeah nice all right so my next question might be hard for you to answer so Dana White has said and he’s pretty bullish about trying to bring the UFC to Spain yeah do you have anything you can share with us as to whether or not that might actually happen at some point down the line that’s going to happen okay it’s going to happen in 2024 for sure it’s going to happen yeah because I feel like right now the Spain ha has that fun base which the UFC needs to go to some different places right so we have one of the biggest stadiums there one of them it’s the Santiago Bern which is ready to to make a concerts uh I don’t know many events you can close it the right wolf so it’s going to be it’s going to be excited for me to bring the Y to Spain and put a lot of different Spanish fighters in the card it’s going to be it to be a good one a lot of Spanish fighters on the car but there’s only one man who can headline our first trip to Spain it’s got to be Ilia toia yeah what would that mean to you to to be the guy to help Usher in that market and to to be the guy who actually helped bring a UFC line eventus thing first of all as a personal wise it it means that the dreams come true you know because so you put Spain on the map but you rep Germany and Georgia so how do you navigate sort of representing all of those different countries on the world stage so I represent uh Georgia in Spain I was born in Germany but I I don’t represent Germany at all I love Germany of course I was born there what can I tell you I I feel great about that a lot of Georgian support out there for sure a lot of Georgians and we have a lot of Georgians in the in the UFC too we have I’m going to share the car with M abdali Shi who will fight for the world war championships very soon too after this fight he will fight for the for the championship that’s close so when Alexander volovski stepped up on short notice to fight Islam Mev in October you know you’re the guy you’re the number one Contender the next featherweight World title Challenger what were your thoughts when he accepted that fight so when you prepare for Alexander volkanovski is there any particular area of focus is there anything that jumps off the film that he does really well yeah he kicks very well and with the low kicks he caught the distance very good he was the best guy in the world for for some reason he was the pound for P for some reason so the guy deserves his respects he’s good but as I told you before I know you’ve talked about your improved patience is that going to be something you’re going to be thinking about in advance of this title fight to wait for your opportunities to unfold of course of course of course so you have let your fighting do the talking you’re known as one of the hardest workers in the game but you do a lot of that work out of the public eye and in silence have you thought about your emotions will be like if you complete the mission so to speak and you become a world champion what emotionally you’re going to feel like after accomplishing that of course I have that as a visualization every night I I went to sleep I try to visualize all that scenarios and the difference I always said between me and another guys it’s that many people needs to see to believe I believe and then I see it so your coaches unheralded they don’t necessarily get a lot of the shine that some of these other coaches get but it seems like you guys are super tight-knit yeah they gonna have have all some fans were surprised that Alexander volkanovski took this fight this quickly because most people see you as his most dangerous threat in this featherweight division I’d imagine you give him credit for turning around here quickly but were you surprised not at all because he as I told you before he was talking about his mental strength problems and all that he said something like if I I’m not in training coms I I feel like he had pressed all that so was not surprised about the fact that he has up the fight with me so so quick all right so your brother Alexander this is very exciting five- one as a professional competes in the band weight division he’s been signed by the UFC I’m sure you expected this to happen but it’s pretty exciting he will become a UFC world champion too he he’s very good very talented he’s good everywhere at the ground and wrestling and striking very good style they going to enjoy with with his style do you Corner him or no I will Corner him yeah and he will he’s cornering me all the time how soon might we see him in the Octagon after my fight like really soon maybe in one month after after my fight sometime that yeah he’s ready he’s ready trust me and so are you ilot toia fights Alexander banovski UFC 298 Honda Center Anaheim California in February congratulations on earning this title fight we wish you all the best on the 17 fight thank you Ilia toia ladies and gentlemen