Ilia Topuria’s coach shares training details, fight-ready return date

Ryan Harkness breaks down daily mixed martial arts (MMA) news, providing unique context to stories that only 15 years of obsessing over the sport can provide, having worked for FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, MSN, Bleacher Report, HDNet and CagePotato, among others, before joining MMAmania.com in 2017.

Ilia Topuria’s comeback tour has begun, but how long will it be be before we see the Spanish-Georgian fighter back in the cage?

Topuria took a hellacious beating when he faced Justin Gaethje on the White House lawn in June. It’s been just three months since that fight and the serious injuries sustained — two broken orbitals and a shattered nose. The face of “El Matador” is looking normal again, and he’s begun to release elaborate social media promos teasing a return.

That’s way too soon according to folks like Joe Rogan, who believe the physical and psychological toll of a Gaethje beating requires more time to process. And fortunately, it sounds like Topuria won’t be rushing back to competition by the end of 2026.

“I’ve been talking with Jesus Gallo, Ilia Topuria’s physical trainer,” Spanish reporter Alvaro Colmenero wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “He has informed me that Ilia is gradually returning to training in Miami and that ‘he’ll be ready to fight starting from February’ of 2027.”

Colmonero is extremely close with Team Topuria and regularly breaks news regarding Ilia. February 2027 would be eight months from the June 2026 defeat, which seems reasonable enough. Now the only question that remains is whether the UFC will put Topuria right back in the cage with Gaethje for an immediate rematch or if they do Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett first instead.

Part of that matchmaking equation also includes Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 this weekend. If either of those men earns a star-making win on the card, they could step in and face Gaethje, leaving Topuria a softer rebound in Pimblett.