"Did you ask him if he found out who Joe is?" - Redditors react after fan "randomly" runs into Ilia Topuria in Sydney ahead of UFC 312

MMA enthusiasts reacted as a fan ran into reigning featherweight champion Ilia Topuria in Sydney, where he will be cornering his brother Aleksandre Topuria at UFC 312.

‘El Matador’ has been out of action since his first featherweight title defense at UFC 308 against BMF champion Max Holloway. He delivered an amazing performance, becoming the first fighter in UFC history to knock Holloway out.

The featherweight kingpin is set to be in the corner of his brother, Aleksandre, who will be making his promotional debut at UFC 312 against Colby Thicknesse. The event is scheduled to take place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 8.

Ahead of the event, a fan bumped into Ilia in Sydney and shared a photo of their encounter on Reddit:

Randomly ran into the champ in Sydney byu/steceyy inufc

UFC later reshared the post, sparking reactions from several MMA fans who flooded the comment section.

One user referenced a viral moment when Holloway said “Drill,” which Topuria misheard as "Joe," leading to a confused response in an interview. The fan jokingly commented:

“Did you ask him if he found out who Joe is?.”

Another user highlighted Topuria’s victories over Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, expressing that they still haven't recovered from seeing their favorite fighters lose:

“Man I don't know how I would have reacted. Still haven't moved on from Max and Volk. I'm sure it would have been awesome to see him in person but I don't think I'll be happy.”

One fan added:

“Why it looks like [Topuria] wanted a picture with you, not the other way around.”

Another user wrote:

“Did you really meet him if he didn't punch you in the liver?”

Check out some more fan reactions below:

Fan reactions screenshot. [Screenshots courtesy: @ufc on Reddit]

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Alexander Volkanovski shares his thoughts on Ilia Topuria cornering Aleksandre Topuria at UFC 312

Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria will be in opposite corners at UFC 312, as Volkanovski will be cornering Colby Thicknesse.

In the first episode of UFC 312 Embedded, ‘The Great’ expressed excitement about facing his rival from the other side. The Australian said:

“I’m gonna be in the corner, which will be pretty cool. He’s always in my corner throughout my whole career. And then you have Ilia who is going to be in Aleksandre Topuria’s corner as well. That’s pretty cool, I don’t think it’s ever happened – champion, former champion, master coaches like Joe [Lopez] and [Ilia’s] coaches.”

Check out Alexander Volkanovski’s comments below (5:12):