Sydney, Australia — In one of the UFC’s more hyped debuts of late, bantamweight Aleksandre Topuria arrived at UFC 312 in Sydney on Saturday, earning a unanimous decision victory over short-notice replacement Colby Thicknesse.
Topuria improved to 6-1 with the win, fighting for the first time in over a year. That’s not the sort of record, or level of activity, that normally facilitates entry into the UFC. Topuria, however, is the brother of UFC featherweight champ Ilia Topuria. And name clearly has its privileges.
Of course, privilege doesn’t win fights, and Topuria looked solid in his debut. “Emotionally, I feel very good. I feel grateful, I feel blessed,” Topuria said following the fight, adding that he felt physically well as well.
Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press, the 29-year old said of Thicknesse, who replaced Cody Haddon in the bout, that “I am thankful because this guy gave me something which I had never had, which is three rounds. I feel very good. Right now, I feel that this fight gives me more experience, it makes me strong, stronger.”
Aleksandre Topuria also shed light into what brother Ilia told him in his corner. “When the fight began, when I caught him with the shot, my brother told me to stay relaxed. Be calm. In that moment, I was thinking, I have to options: to keep pressing and get crazy, let’s swing, or be calm, wait a moment, if it’s a decision, it’s a decision.”
Topuria recalled that Thicknesse had promised to drag him into deep waters before the fight. “And I said, let’s go a little by little. Let’s go in the deep ocean. Like you saw, it was the deep ocean, but my ocean, in the third round.”
While there was a lot of hype on Topuria coming into UFC 312, that’s not really what he’s looking for. He just wants to have great fights, like the one between himself and Thicknesse.
“I’m a normal guy, I’m a chill guy who keeps fighting for his dream, for his family, for his own. I have a lot of ambitions, but it’s not to have hype. So next, another fight, that’s it.”
Watch the full UFC 312 post-fight appearance by Aleksandre Topuria above.
