Mama Topuria Details Ilia’s ‘Daily’ Street Fights

Photo by Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images

Ilia and his brother were no strangers to scrapping in the streets of Rustavi, Georgia growing up, according to a book written by their mother.

What does Ilia Topuria know about the streets? More than some of his haters would think, it seems.

Leading up to his UFC 308 victory over Max Holloway, Topuria seemed to be beefing with half the Russian fighters on the roster due to comments about Islam Makhachev. “El Matador” expressed interest in fighting the lightweight champion but specified it would be in the cage, not the streets.

“When did you ever fight on the street European boy?” was the response from Mak’s teammate and Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.

Ilia Topuria goes back and forth with a Russian reporter who asks him “what he knows about the street” ‍♂️#UFC308 pic.twitter.com/fCZbhICFiW

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) October 26, 2024

That became a repeated line across social media and forums during fight week, and one media member even asked Topuria during media day what he knew of street fighting. Topuria refused to answer, but not because he didn’t have experiences to share.

According to Topuria’s mother, Ilia and his brother Aleksandre were forced to fight on the streets of Rustavi, Georgia regularly.

“It was not rare, it was a daily routine,” she wrote in a new book about her son (translated by Giorgi Kokiashvili). “Whenever they were in the streets, they were fighting. Imagine: multiple boys would appear ... they would come and tell you that they wanted your hat or your belt. There were three ways - giving up, running away and fighting.”

I'm reading the book "Mother & Ilia" which is dedicated to the story of Ilia Topuria's mother, Inga, who is from Abkhazia, a region of Georgia occupied by Russia.

There is a part of the story about Ilia and his brother, Aleksandre, fighting in the streets of Rustavi, Georgia. I… pic.twitter.com/X1lxbx6jKA

— Giorgi Kokiashvili (@iHeartGeorgius1) October 30, 2024

“Ilia and Aleksandre always preferred to fight, and at the end of the day, they always had their hat and belt.”

“It was not about the things,” she wrote. “It was about securing and defending their place in the streets ... The way to their biggest championship belts started with keeping their own, ordinary belts in the streets of Rustavi.”

Not that we think anyone should be encouraging all this talk of street fighting. The UFC has been lucky that their relatively recent hands-off approach to unsanctioned attacks and brawls hasn’t resulted in any serious injury. They might not be so lucky when the added tensions between Russia and Georgia are added into the mix.

The last thing we need is some situation where things go horribly sideways, especially involving the UFC’s next potential breakout star. But for the record: Topuria is no stranger to defending himself on the streets.