2023-05-02 08:02:34
Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 07:48
Known as ‘El matador’, Ilia Topuria is making his place in the history of Mixed Martial Arts with 13 wins and no losses. He is the first great star of this sport in our country and he visited ‘El Hormiguero’ wanting to show the secrets of his discipline. “You don’t know how excited I am to be sitting here,” he told Pablo Motos as soon as he greeted him. “It is where the fusion of all contact sports is done,” explained the guest about his specialty.
About his nickname, Topuria argued: «It arose in the gym. At first they started calling me that and I didn’t like it very much because I associated it with bullfights and I’m a pretty sentimental person with all that, but over time it sounded better and better to me».
Half Georgian, the interviewee confessed that he felt more Spanish. “Here I was trained, here I have my friends and my home,” he said. He debuted in the ring at the age of fifteen and evoked his first fight. «I remember it with great fear. I wondered: what am I doing here, why don’t I study? Then I had the courage to go upstairs and what I experienced was what brought me here », he commented. He overcame that first fear and those that came after. “Fear keeps you from all good things. I tell everyone that there is no better feeling than overcoming fear and feeling like the hero of your story. Before I tried to control it and I did not accept the feeling of fear, but then I realized that peace does not come when you have everything under control, but when you give it up. Fear is a natural emotion and I accept it that way », he opined.
Ilia was not shy about talking about her religious ideas. “I quite believe in God and I pray every night. That helps me a lot because I trust that God has a destiny for me and no matter what happens, he is always by my side,” she assured. Motos then asked him about his training methods. “Of course I’m lazy to train, but laziness travels so slowly that poverty doesn’t take long to catch up with it,” explained the champion who has an original way of facing his rivals. “It’s chess. It is playing with your opponent’s mind, studying him to perfection and making him mentally surrender. That’s why I study my opponents to the maximum. I look at everything, especially what his natural movements are when he gets tired, “he declared.
“How much money does a guy of your level earn?” Motos questioned without palliatives. His guest hesitated before answering. “I don’t feel comfortable answering that question, but I can tell you that, counting the fights, I can earn between 150,000 euros and 200,000 a month,” said Topuria, who feels that in December he can be proclaimed world champion. «I am prepared for a loss, although I feel that I am not made to lose and I am going to retire from my undefeated career. I feel that I was born to succeed and be happy », he finished.
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