Ilia Topuria has hilariously recounted why he quit drinking wine before his professional MMA fights’ weigh-ins. It was a habit that raised many eyebrows, but he stood by it at the time.
The former UFC Featherweight Champion, who vacated the title earlier this year and is moving up to the lightweight division, drank wine before weighing in for two consecutive fights.
Ilia Topuria Talks About Drinking Wine Before UFC Weigh-Ins
Ilia Topuria recently appeared on UFC color commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” On episode #166 of the “JRE MMA Show,” Rogan and Topuria shed light on the challenges of weight-cutting in the sport of MMA.
A point highlighted in their conversation was Topuria’s practice of consuming wine before his weigh-ins. On that note, Rogan asked him, “When did you start drinking wine before weigh-ins?”
Topuria responded by alluding to two of his featherweight MMA bouts that transpired in the UFC a few years ago. One was his clash against Damon Jackson in Dec. 2020, and the other, his next fight, came against Ryan Hall in July 2021.
He won both those showdowns via first-round KO. Implying that he drank wine during the aforementioned fights’ weight-cutting process, ‘La Leyenda’ stated, “I did it twice in my career. It was once in Las Vegas.”
“I was fighting with Damon Jackson. I had, like, still six kilos or something (to cut). That’s a lot of weight to cut. And the guy, who was taking care of my nutrition, he called us and he told me, ‘Drink wine. Drink half a bottle of wine.’ I’m like, ‘You’re sure?’ ‘Yes,’ he told me, because if you drink a little wine, you’re gonna wake up the next day, if you don’t put anything else in your body, with two liters less … Because the alcohol, it’s gonna provoke the dehydration. I did it, and it works.”
Topuria hilariously indicated that most other fighters were struggling due to the grueling weight cuts, while he was partying and drinking wine.
However, since he didn’t feel good the second time he did it, he subsequently stopped drinking wine before weigh-ins. The 28-year-old, who’s eyeing a UFC lightweight title shot, said:
“And after that, I did it in my next fight. But then, I was like, ‘I don’t feel good. I don’t feel good…’ It’s fun. It’s fun. Because everyone is almost dying that night. I was, like, partying with my team; so skinny, drinking wine.”
Watch Topuria discuss the topic below (1:23:21):
Topuria’s account of the instances cracked up Joe Rogan, who has his own staunch beliefs about the UFC’s weight-cutting system.
In a January episode of his podcast, Rogan revealed that he wants weight-cutting to be eliminated altogether. He claimed that he suggested to Ari Emanuel, the CEO of TKO Group Holdings Inc., to get rid of the system and make fighters compete in their natural weight classes.
“Look, if you can randomly test people for drugs, you can randomly test their weight,” Rogan said.