Outside Source
Topuria (17-0) recently admitted that he was really scared going into his first professional fight in 2015. While “El Matador” started questioning his career choices, he was also motivated at the same time. Topuria claims that even the thought of not showing up to the fight at all crossed his mind. While Topuria was only 18 years old, his opponent was already a seven-fight veteran by then.
‘I Went Through Hell’
“I was so scared for my first professional fight,’ Topuria said on DeepCuts with VicBlends. “I was like, ‘Why didn’t I study? What am I doing here?’ I was so scared but at the same time so motivated… It was so weird. I went through hell, I remember, that day. I was about to stay in the backstage. I had that thought. And he had way more experience than me. I was 18 years old at that time.”
Topuria won his first fight against Francisco Aspirilla in the first round via triangle choke. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard finished all eight of his opponents before making his UFC debut, going past the first round only once. In his last three outings, Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to win the UFC featherweight title, knocked out Max Holloway to defend it, moved up and knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title. Topuria now puts his lightweight title on the line against interim champ Justin Gaethje at UFC White House on June 14.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
