Ilia Topuria’s opponent, Justin Gaethje, stood with his mouth slightly agape as he looked up, down, side to side, and all around him. It’s understandable that the American fighter was overawed; here he was, standing at the Lincoln Memorial, about to wage a war of words with Topuria before waging a war in the cage on Sunday – on the White House’s South Lawn. So how comes Topuria, when he emerged moments later, was wearing a smirk?
There is an eerie coldness to Topuria at times. In our previous interview, in 2023, he asked me: “Do you know how good I am? I can submit my opponent, I can knock him out. I can do with him whatever I want.” These were rhetorical questions, but I couldn’t help feeling somewhat interrogated, as if the German-born Spanish-Georgian thought I did not truly appreciate his skills. In that moment, “El Matador” seemed more bull than man.
