Aleksandre Topuria understands why there’s an added storyline for his octagon debut, but it’s not going to affect him in any way.
Topuria, the brother of current UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, faces Colby Thicknesse this Saturday at UFC 312 in Sydney. The six-fight bantamweight veteran has his brother in his corner, while Thicknesse has former 145-pound champ—and the man Topuria took the belt from at UFC 298 a year ago—Alexander Volkanovski in his.
The fact that Volkanovski is cornering against him doesn’t have any impact on Topuria.
“There’s no rivalry — there’s Aleksandre Topuria and Colby inside the cage,” Topuria told MMA Fighting. “I’ve been there, we won that battle. We had, one time, that battle, Pressure going to be on him. There is no pressure to me and if Alexander Volkanovski [is] going to be there, happy for him. Very good. See you there.
“But I have another guy inside the cage this time, so my focus is in him 100 percent. It’s him, not anybody else. But if you want to talk about what you think is maybe pressure or something like that, let’s don’t talk about Alexander. Let’s talk about a guy who is looking from outside. Normally if you play football, you go 1-0, who has the pressure?
“Because if you win, it’s 1-1. If you put the ball inside [the net], it’s 1-1, and if I win, it’s 2-0, you know what I mean?”
“El Conquistador” competes for the first time in nearly two years this weekend. Topuria understands having an incredibly successful brother made his road to the octagon a bit quicker than it should have been, but still embraces the challenge.
Topuria says the reason for his lengthy layoff is he put his fighting career on hold to prepare his brother to fight Volkanovski at UFC 298 in his first title fight, and then to get Ilia ready for his title defense against Max Holloway.
For as long as he’s cornered Ilia in his fights, Aleksandre says his brother has always returned the favor — and then some. And he’ll do so again this Saturday.
“Ilia’s been in my corner to since I started competing and first competition was in wrestling,” Topuria explained. “All the time he was my corner. So having him in the corner is like elixir to me. I don’t hear nothing all the time [outside of] his voice in my head. For sure [I can hear] the coaches, but mostly it’s when he talks to me — something like which I’ve heard all my life. The same happened with him.
“It’s like some voice that that you’re going to hear [in front of] millions of people, and when he talks, you listen to that voice. So for me, it’s very important to have him in the corner. For me, it gives me strength. He gives me everything I need to be inside the cage. I believe in him.
“It’s like when I go inside the cage, I know that I have another Aleksandre outside the cage, which is Ilia Topuria.”
While Topuria is making his UFC debut in just his seventh pro fight, Thicknesse also makes his first promotional walk as he accepted the bout as a late-notice replacement for the injured Cody Haddon. Thicknesse is 7-0, and gets his shot with the UFC after capturing the HEX Fight Series bantamweight title in November with a first-round knockout.
Topuria says he’s embraced the extra attention, photo opportunities, and interviews he’s gotten this week—which is much more than your typical debut fighter. He believes it’s just the first of many fight weeks of that nature, and his story will write its emphatic next chapter this weekend in his first UFC fight.
“If you want to talk like this, I don’t have any pressure and there’s not going to be any,” Topuria said. “Truly, I want to stay humble and talk. I don’t have nothing against Colby Thicknesse, but what I feel in my heart and in my mind, he can’t win this fight. I will not let him win this fight. I’m ready to die, but mostly I’m ready to kill. So this is what I feel, truly.”
