Ilia Topuria is telling everyone he’s on his way back. The former two-division champion posted a training update on Instagram this week that read like a trailer voiceover: “I returned to where it all began. Not to reminisce, but to remember. The Matador is coming back.” The post spread quickly on X, where accounts including @DovySimuMMA and Championship Rounds shared the message on Tuesday.
The post didn’t include an opponent or a date, so treat it as a mood rather than a booking. Still, the subtext is loud. This is a fighter who had never lost in MMA until a few months ago, and the line about remembering his purpose lands differently when you know how the last fight went.
How we got here
Topuria (17-1) built his name at 145 before moving up to lightweight in 2025, where he stopped former champion Charles Oliveira to become just the 10th fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions. His first defense came about a year later in the main event of UFC Freedom 250 against Justin Gaethje, and Topuria walked in as a huge favorite. Gaethje (28-5) took the belt with what Yahoo Sports’ rankings writeup called a dominant upset, handing Topuria the first loss of his career. That same ranking now has Gaethje at No. 1 at 155 and Topuria at No. 3.
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The guy sitting between them matters. Arman Tsarukyan (24-3) is on a six-fight win streak and knocked out Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 on Sept. 19. The Yahoo piece argued he has to get a championship opportunity in his next bout, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Tsarukyan has a habit of tripping over his own title shots, but a knockout of a red-hot contender is about as clean a case as you can make.
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Topuria’s name has also been floating around for reasons that have nothing to do with lightweight. Heavyweight Josh Hokit, who challenges Ciryl Gane for the title at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14, dropped a rap track under the name J-Word that took shots at Gane, Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, Alex Pereira and Topuria. MMA Fighting described Pereira and Topuria as recent rivals of Hokit’s. Derek Brunson reacted on X that the song was good, then picked Gane in three anyway.
Quick take
I like the tone of this post more than I’d like a callout. A fighter who just took a definitive loss and responds by going back to basics is the kind of adjustment I want to see, and Topuria has the tools to make it. But he shouldn’t jump the line. Gaethje vs. Tsarukyan is the fight the division has earned, and Topuria against a top-five name in the meantime would tell us a lot more than an immediate rematch would. Give me Topuria against Paddy Pimblett, who just beat Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 329, and let the winner wait at the front of the line.
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