UFC star Ilia Topuria unveils new Octagon nickname ahead of lightweight jump

UFC star Ilia Topuria has unveiled his new Octagon nickname ahead of his move up to the lightweight division.

The Georgian-Spanish MMA star has, to this point, fought with the nickname “El Matador.” However, he recently revealed plans to change his nickname ahead of his next fight.

“El Matador has been my [alias] in every fight,” he teased on X. “But next time, I’ll step into the Octagon with a new identity.”

Topuria’s next matchup isn’t confirmed, but he has already alleviated his fans’ curiosity by revealing the nickname he’ll use going forward.

From now on, Topuria will be going by “El Leyenda,” which means “The Legend” in Spanish.

The UFC star revealed the new nickname at a ceremony in Toledo, Spain, where he is having a local street named after him.

Ilia Topuria explains new nickname choice

“‘El Matador’ is something that has accompanied me throughout my entire sporting career, throughout my entire trajectory, and it’s something that’s led me to the new nickname,” Topuria said (h/t MMA Fighting). “It’s always what I say: You need to believe. You need to see to believe. I believe it first, and then I see it. So the nickname that will accompany me in my next fights is going to be ‘La Leyenda.’”

Topuria claimed the UFC featherweight title early last year, shocking the world with a knockout of pound-for-pound mainstay Alexander Volkanovski. He then defended his title with a knockout of Max Holloway, another iconic featherweight, later in the year.

Topuria’s stunning wins over over Volkanovski and Holloway pushed him to the uppermost reaches of the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings. However, just when it looked like he could become one of the most dominant champs in featherweight history, he announced plans to vacate the title and move up to lightweight.

That was several weeks ago. At this point, we still don’t know who “El Leyenda” will fight in his next matchup, but he might walk right into a title fight with lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.