ENGINE AND SUPPORT
Ilia Topuria has become the first Spaniard to win a UFC world title. The 27-year-old, born in Germany and raised in Georgia, has been in Spain since he was 15 years old. He moved to Alicante with his parents and his brother Aleksandre, who have been the driving force behind his success along with his son Hugo and his partner Giorgina.
Ilia Topuria’s family is the driving force behind her success. The 27-year-old, the first Spaniard to win a UFC world title, owes his career as a fighter to his parents and to his son, Hugo, the strength necessary to face (and KO) Alexander Volkanovsk. in the fight last Sunday, February 18.
“My father took us to do judo for the first time when we were four years old and he was the one who got us into this world,” Ilia said on a visit to La Resistencia with her older brother Aleksandre, also a professional wrestler.
His mother and a gym in Alicante
Ilia and Aleksandre were children when their father introduced them to this sport that, without knowing it at the time, ended up guiding their lives. From judo they went to Greco-Roman wrestling and from Greco-Roman wrestling to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
This is where their mother, Inga, comes into play, introducing them to this sport when the family was already living in Alicante, a city to which the clan traveled from Georgia when the brothers were 15 and 16 years old respectively.
“One day, by chance, my mother met a boy who had cauliflower ears and asked him. The boy was a Climent Club black belt,” Aleksandre said in the AS interview. The boy recommended that they go to the MMA gym of the Argentine brothers Agustín and Jorge Climent. “My brother and I went to Climent Club and we never went out.”
To the ear of cauliflower by Ilia Topuria
Cauliflower ears are a typical injury of these athletes caused by continuous blows, Ilia has one as seen in the previous photo.
Aleksandre Topuria, his brother and partner
The two brothers found their second home in this gym and, although it was difficult for them to become professional wrestlers, their perseverance and the support of their family allowed them to fulfill their dream.
“Ilia didn’t get here alone, after every fight he needs his family,” his mother said in an interview on Eurosport before the match against Volkanovski.
The athlete, who before this achievement worked in private security and as a cashier in different stores, also has the support of his brother Aleksandre, his inseparable gym buddy and his personal superhero. “As a child I never needed a superhero because I was lucky to have the best by my side,” he noted on Instagram on the occasion of Aleksandre’s 28th birthday.
The oldest of the brothers is also a UFC fighter. Ilia himself confirmed it in November 2023. His debut is scheduled for this year 2024.
His girlfriend Giorgina Uzactegui and future mother of his son
The family is Ilia Topuria’s great support and that is also where her partner, the businesswoman Giorgina Uzcategui Badell, comes into play.
“I met her at a dinner and I thought what a beautiful girl. One of the best gifts that God brought me,” said the fighter in a report he made with the mother of his future daughter.
Giorgina captivated him at that first moment although the crush was not mutual. “I wasn’t a sports fan or anything like that. Then, watching videos of him on Instagram, I was like, ‘This is someone else, how is this possible?’ He’s so sweet and then… he almost kills people.” I said, ‘Of all the things you can do in this life, why do you do that?’ And he said, ‘Because I’m the best, I never get hit.’ And I said, ‘Ok, perfect,'” the young woman said in the report.
Despite those initial doubts, Giorgina ended up falling in love with the fighter and together they began a love story whose next chapter will come in 2024. After the victory against Alexander Volkanovsk, Uzcategui and Topuria announced their upcoming paternity. “The little matador is on the way and we already know that she will have great purposes in her life. We love you, daughter,” Georgina wrote on Instagram.
Giorgina Uzcategui Badell, who studied Business Administration at Miami Dade College and expanded her training at Suffolk University in Boston, is CEO of Future & Energy, a company committed to creating a better future through sustainable solutions. She founded it in April 2022 and, before becoming its own boss, Ella Uzcategui had worked in various sectors related to sales and marketing.
Hugo, Ilia’s eldest son
Topuria has another son, Hugo, the result of a previous relationship and to whom she has instilled the spirit of sacrifice.
“[A mis hijos] I’m going to give them everything when I consider it, they won’t lack shelter or food, just as I haven’t lacked it either. But always everything within limits. If I drive the latest car they have released in the world, they are not going to drive it. They have to learn to become the rich person who can drive that car,” he said in an interview.
The fighter defends that dreams must be pursued and his, in addition to triumph, is that his children can go to university. After becoming featherweight world champion in the UFC, he told little Hugo: “I’m doing spectacularly well, and also, look at this jewel they gave me. Look Hugo, we already have to pay for your university.”
2024-02-26 20:39:06
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