Ilia
Topuria doesn’t want to leave any chinks in his armor when he
steps inside the
UFC Octagon.
Topuria (17-0) has never fought more than twice a year. Topuria
recently revealed why he doesn’t like to be too active. “El
Matador” wants to step into a fight with a complete training camp,
which is why he never makes quick turnarounds. The undefeated UFC
lightweight champion also claims that he has never gone into a
fight with an injury. Topuria even avoids random sparring in
training and only focuses on situational, technical sparring.
Advertisement
Proper Training Camps
“Everyone has his own style,” Topuria said on Adin Ross’ Kick
stream. “If that’s something that makes him happy, he has to do
that. For me, I don’t like to fight three or four times in a year
because I really enjoy having proper training camps. I never go
inside the Octagon with an injury. When I go in, I go at 100%… I
do very specific sparring. I don’t go inside the gym, pick guys and
say, ‘Let’s spar.’… Me personally, I love to work on the
technique to develop my skills, to be more specific, and put myself
in positions that could happen in a fight.’”
In stark contrast to Topuria, former bantamweight champion Merab
Dvalishvili attempted to defend his title for the fourth time
in a year against Petr Yan at
UFC 323 this past December. Dvalishvili took the matchup after
his third title defense against Cory
Sandhagen, making a two-month turnaround for his fight against
Yan. Dvalishvili was completely outclassed by Yan en route to a
unanimous decision loss, which many blame on the quick turnaround.
In contrast, Topuria has consistently fought twice a year
throughout his career and only once in 2025.
Ilia
Topuria explains why he doesn’t fight 3–4 times a year 👀Adin Ross asked if fighting multiple times a year could hurt
someone like Merab
Dvalishvili in high-level fights.Ilia
Topuria: “Everyone has his own style. If that makes him happy,
he has to do that. For me, I… pic.twitter.com/q0ycd6ioH2— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
February 27, 2026