Topuria breaks his silence after White House loss: 'I still feel I'm the best'

Ilia Topuria is back. After months away from the public eye, the Spanish-Georgian fighter has given his first interview since losing at the White House, and he sounds calmer, more mature and not remotely finished.

"The flame is bigger now. I still feel I'm the best in the world. I will never give up," he says.

What happened?

On 14 June, Topuria lost the main event of the UFC card held on the White House South Lawn. Justin Gaethje beat him while Donald Trump, celebrating his 80th birthday, watched on. It was the first defeat of his career and it broke the aura of invincibility around "El Matador", the first unbeaten double champion in UFC history.

Then he disappeared. He spent months in Georgia, where his family is from, and he is now speaking from Tbilisi, the capital.

Why did he go quiet?

Topuria says he was simply exhausted. He had been in the sport since he was a child, and the last few years were the most demanding of his life. "There were moments when I hardly did anything for myself," he explains.

Georgia gave him something he rarely has: no schedule. Training was respected, he says, and everything else was "whatever comes up". He also wanted to reflect on what he has achieved, what is still missing and what keeps him motivated.

The loss, he says, helped him get to know himself from another angle. His biggest lesson? "Enjoy the present." He adds that if God destroys his plans, it is because those plans could have destroyed him.

What's next?

Retirement is not on the table. Topuria says he has "two or three fights" left, and the next one will probably be against Paddy Pimblett "from April".

His own take on the sport's biggest fight is typically bold: it is "Ilia against anyone". Whether he is right, we will find out in the cage.