The day of the evening has not yet arrived, but UFC 312 is already making headlines. This was evident during the previous ceremonial weighing, both backstage and with Ilia Topuria as one of the main figures.
Former UFC fighter Urijah Faber took a selfie that included Ilia Topuria, Alexander Volkanovski, and Charles Oliveira. Notably, Volkanovski is the Australian rival that Topuria, also known as the ‘Matador’, defeated to claim the featherweight belt, and he could potentially be Topuria’s next opponent in a rematch. However, if Topuria decides to move up to lightweight, Oliveira could also be a possible opponent, as Topuria has publicly stated.
The mutual respect between Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski was once again apparent. Volkanovski will be in the corner of Thicknesse, who is the opponent of Topuria’s brother, Aleksandre, in his UFC debut. Meanwhile, Ilia will be in Aleksandre’s corner. Despite this, there is no visible tension between them, and respect is mutual.
In fact, after the photo taken by Faber, Ilia could be seen chatting with Volkanovski, also known as ‘Volk’, for a few seconds before proceeding to the official weighing minutes later.