Ilia Topuria has arguably been the most talked-about UFC fighter over the past couple of years after laying waste to a pair of all-time featherweight greats in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. He then moved up to lightweight and did the exact same thing to Charles Oliveira.
Claiming titles in two divisions isn’t as novel an achievement as it once was, but Topuria’s devastating style, combined with his growing international popularity, suddenly made him the UFC’s most marketable superstar. But as the 2026 UFC calendar gets underway, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett are about to compete for an interim title, and Topuria is absent with no timeline set for his return as he endures a messy and public divorce, which includes a custody battle.
UFC legend Matt Brown nearly retired while he was going through his own divorce so he understands what Topuria is going through. That story also informs his concern about what kind of a performance the reigning 155-pound champion might deliver when he finally returns to fight again.
“Ilia comes back but the bolder prediction is that he loses,” Brown said when looking ahead at 2026 on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “He comes back too soon, still dealing with all this bullshit and ends up losing because he’s not in the right headspace. I think Ilia’s a smart guy, that’s why I’m kind of on the fence about this prediction. I’m not saying I really believe this prediction or anything, but fighters don’t like not fighting. They don’t like sitting on the sidelines.
“I can speak from my own experience. Every time I got injured, and someone wants to watch a UFC card, it’s hard to watch. You can’t sit there and watch it. You want to be the guy in there. You want to be the one people are watching. I think he’s going to have that [issue]. He’s healthy. Obviously he’s dealing with some pretty heavy shit, but he’s healthy. He wants to come back and compete and fight, and I think he’ll end up breaking to that, and he’ll end up coming back. But it’s not going to be a good time, and he’s going to be dealing with shit.”
In the days leading up to UFC 324 with the interim lightweight title fight serving as the main event, Dana White has said the expectation is the winner will move on to face Topuria, but he also hasn’t made any definitive statements about the situation.
Perhaps that’s White trying to prevent further confusion if the fight doesn’t actually happen, but it’s impossible to ignore the wide range of unknowns surrounding Topuria as he deals with his personal life.
Brown says fighters often deal with outside-the-cage issues that can absolutely bleed into your performances, which is why wonders how Topuria comes back from all this.
“We’re still competitors,” Brown said. “There’s so many things guys are going through that we have no idea about. They’re not public about it. They’re not vocal about it, and they’re going through things all the time when we’re fighting. It’s not an excuse but it can weight heavy on you. There’s deaths in the family. Divorces, custody stuff, kid stuff, kids get sick, the list goes on and on forever and ever. But when you go in there, and you’re going against hungry, young lions, you better have your head on straight.
“Ilia does seem like he has a good head on his shoulders. He’s being smart about it. He sees the long game. He’s a prizefighter. We talk about it all the time. He’s a prizefighter. He’s here for the prize. He’s not just trying to feed his ego or anything, just trying to be a f*cking warrior. Nothing like that.”
Unlike an injury, which typically comes along with an estimated timetable to return to action, Topuria’s divorce could play out for longer than expected.
Even if Topuria eventually settles everything with his soon-to-be ex-wife, Brown knows signing the paperwork to bring a marriage to an end doesn’t suddenly make everything better.
“I don’t know how the courts work in Spain but over here mine lasted two years,” Brown said. “The other thing to think about, just because a divorce is finalized, things aren’t all of a sudden roses and rainbows and good again. As hard as a woman is to deal with pre-divorce, they’re not easier to deal with once you’re divorced. It’s not like everything gets better.
“There’s not a timeline. There’s not a proper way to do it. At some point, you’ve just got to suck it up and do it. You’ve got to put your head down, bite down on your mouthpiece, walk forward and go. What’s too early? I don’t know.”
As mentally taxing as his personal life is right now, Topuria also has to realize the potential physical effects that could come as a result of his divorce.
“A lot of times that extra little bit of cortisol can be the game changer,” Brown explained. “You don’t sleep quite as good at night. Your body just doesn’t recover quite as well as it did because you stayed up an extra 30 minutes dealing with some court papers or you’ve got a call that stressed you out a little bit. The cortisol rises and now your sleep is 10 points on your score meter a little bit lower. Your next day, you got through everything, you pushed as hard as you could but you’re bench press that’s normally 285, now it’s 283 today. Even though you don’t really notice a difference because you weren’t doing 283, you were doing 200 for 25 [reps]. Little things you don’t even notice it and then one day, you just wake up and why the f*ck do I not feel the same that I did a year ago?
“So many inches and centimeters involved with this shit. So many little things, invisible things that you don’t see. So many little worms crawling around in the brain, tiny little worms growing you don’t even know were affecting you.”
Brown believes Topuria is talented enough to endure what’s happening in his private life to eventually return to the UFC and continue ruling over the lightweight division, but sadly there’s just no guarantee that happens.
That’s why Brown hopes Topuria takes the time he needs to deal with his personal issues before booking his return to the octagon.
“It gets emotional,” Brown said. “Then you think it’s over, especially as public it is with Ilia, and what’s all the media talking about? Now it just rehashes all that. He’ll say the right things ‘I’m not discussing that’ or whatever. But it’s going to bring back some of those memories. We’ll see.
“He’s so talented I don’t really see him losing to Gaethje or Paddy. But if you’re not trained properly, your head’s not proper, anything can happen. Those guys are no slouches either. I’m not taking anything away from them. Ilia’s that good.”
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