Aleksandre Topuria once put his professional MMA career on hold to help his brother become a UFC champion.
Now, he’s gearing up for a fight of his own, making his debut in Dana White’s promotion 10 years after making his first pro appearance alongside his brother.
The Topuria brothers made their pro MMA debut on the same night in 2015, but after experiencing the first defeat of his career in his third fight Aleksandre took a break from the sport for over six years.
During this time, Aleksandre, 29, became one of Ilia’s, 28, main training partners on his quest for UFC gold.
But ‘El Conquistador’ has no regrets regarding the potential career-defining decision he made all those years ago.
“Brotherly love. Family,” Aleksandre told Kevin Iole when the latter asked him if he found it difficult taking a break from his own career to help his younger brother.
“For me, this is just sport,” he added. “Everything I do is for my family, close people for my future, you know.
“For sure it’s for me too, because if I’m not great and if I’m not in good shape, and if I don’t work, I cannot give anybody anything.
“But yes, everything I do is for my family and if I have to my career on the side, or something like that for one of the my family members, I will not think to twice.”
Aleksandre is set for the biggest fight of his career as he takes on Australia’s No.1 bantamweight in Colby Thicknesse at UFC 312.
The bout takes place on the preliminary card before Dricus Du Plessis defends his middleweight title against Sean Strickland in the main event.
Du Plessis won UFC gold for the first time by edging Strickland to a split decision victory in January last year in what was a mouthwatering five-round war, so UFC fans can expect big things live from the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Aleksandre knows what a huge step-up the UFC is in terms of his MMA career.
After revealing how he has upped his training sessions to 10-15 rounds every single day, the Georgian native explained how he felt when he first got the UFC call.
“I was booked to have a fight…but Ilia got the call to fight Volkanovski, so I had to put everything on the side,” he added.
“All my focus was on that and we got the job done. Thank God. My plan was then a little bit different to make some fights outside the UFC.
“I actually spoke with Sean Shelby (UFC Matchmaker) and I told him that I would fight outside the UFC.
“…But after Ilia became champion, he pushed to send me the UFC contract and sent me the contract. I didn’t even talk with him.”
“I had to talk with Ilia when they sent me the UFC contract, because I was a little bit surprised, because I was looking for a fight in another organisation and they give me this opportunity.
“So I had two options: accept the UFC contract and start to do everything big, big and start deal with everything, you know because UFC is a little bit different.
“Look I’m sitting with you and before here I did five interviews, you know and yesterday and all this week and before man.
“Everything is bigger, but I say I can handle that for sure. I say for sure.”
Aleksandre went on to add that he is not focused on how far he will go in the promotion, but is just enjoying one fight at a time while ‘climbing the mountain’.
He is a big favourite going into the clash with Thicknesse, who was a late replacement for a previous opponent.
UFC 312 main card
Dricus Du Plessis (C) vs Sean Strickland 2 (middleweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Tatiana Suarez (women’s strawweight title)
Justin Tafa vs Tallison Teixeira (heavyweight)
Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato (light-heavyweight)
Jake Matthews vs Francisco Prado (welterweight)
‘It is what it is’ was Aleksandre’s response when questioned on that front.