Ilia Topuria Returns To A Hero's Welcome In Georgia

It's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria, due to my allegiance/loyalty to Paddy The Baddy - but I am a HUGE fan of these "hero's welcome" return videos for fighters, and this one is particularly awesome. 

It's being reported that at least 5000 people are gathered at Tbilisi International Airport in Georgia to greet Topuria upon his return to the country, and as you can see in the clip above, they surrounded his car Beatlemania-style and basically treated him like a god. That shouldn't be surprising, I guess - considering he's the first Georgian UFC Champ ever, and their reaction to his win was incredible....

....but it's still pretty cool to see. 5000 is simply an insane amount of people to gather at an airport awaiting your arrival, and quite frankly, too anxiety-inducing for me to even wrap my head around. 

I get antsy making a ride from the airport wait even a few extra minutes if I'm late - now imagine 5000 people waiting on you?! Ready to surround your car like zombies making it impossible to leave the airport?! 

It's just another stop in Topuria's victory lap, though, which was been pretty insane over the past few weeks....

Also, because I've seen some people curious about the countries he represents: Ilia Topuria was born in Germany to two Georgian parents, they moved to Georgia when he was 7, and then to Spain when he was a teenager. So he carries both the Georgia/Spain flags, and is a now citizen in both countries after Spanish Prime Minister granted him dual citizenship recently….

We'll see who is next for the 145lb Champ in the coming months - but his superstardom is only growing by the day, and I think his next fight is gonna do MASSIVE buys. We'll never forget Paddy standing his own against Ilia in that hotel lobby tho….

10-9 Pimblett