Ilia Topuria may be the breakout star of 2024 in MMA and the sport’s fighter of the year. We’re about to find out if MMA brilliance runs in his family. Topuria’s brother Aleksandre Topuria is reportedly set to make his UFC debut at UFC 312 on February 9 in Sydney, Australia.
Aleksandre has a 5-1 record as a pro, and he has finished each of his opponents. According to reports, Topuria will be handed a very tough first assignment in his UFC debut.
The 28-year-old Topuria (who is one year older than his brother, the reigning UFC featherweight champion) is reportedly drawing Cody Haddon for a prelim fight on the stacked UFC 312 card.
Haddon earned his UFC contract with a first-round submission victory over Billy Brand during Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Haddon followed up that win and contract-earning performance with a unanimous decision victory over Dan Arguelta in October. Injuries have kept Topuria from competing more frequently.
When he makes his UFC debut, it’ll be Topuria’s first fight in almost two years. His last fight came in May 2023 for the WOW promotion. Topuria scored a first-round TKO win over Johan Segas.
This fight hasn’t been made official by the UFC. That could come after the New Year, as we’re unlikely to hear any official news from the promotion until 2025—barring something special and huge coming from Dana White on a special project.
Rumored UFC 312 Fight Card
- (c) Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland – Middleweight Championship – Main Event
- (c) Weili Zhang vs. Tatiana Suarez – Strawweight Championship – Co-Main Event
- Kamaru Usman vs. Jack Della Maddalena – Welterweight
- Rei Tsuruya vs. Stewart Nicoll – Flyweight
- Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio – Light Heavyweight
- Quiland Salkilld vs. Anshul Jubli – Lightweight
- Tallison Teixeira vs. Justin Tafa – Heavyweight
- Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshchev – Lightweight
- Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos – Featherweight
- Aleksandre Topuria vs. Cody Haddon – Bantamweight
No matter what is added to this card, it looks like a strong show on paper. If the two world championship fights stick at the top of the card, the UFC will have presented back-to-back pay-per-views with two titles on the line.
UFC 311 Overview
UFC 311, scheduled for January 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, will feature two title fights as well. There, Islam Makhachev will defend his UFC lightweight championship against Arman Tsarukyan, and Merab Dvalishvili will defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Umar Nurmagomedov.
The main event for UFC 312 is a rematch. Dricus Du Plessis dethroned Sean Strickland in January. A year later, Strickland will get his opportunity to regain his title. The co-main event fight will have Weili finally defending her title against the oft-injured No. 1 contender, Tatiana Suarez.
I’m a little nervous about Kamaru Usman vs. Jack Della Maddalena as it’s only been rumored. However, Tapology is still including it on their event page, so I have it here until the fighters or the promotion say it’s not happening.
Be on the lookout for more UFC info as we roll into 2025.
