"Who’s this guys PR team honestly" - Fans react after Ilia Topuria updates his Instagram name to new nickname

Ilia Topuria just changed his nickname and it sounds like he chose from the Create a Fighter list in the UFC 5 video game. The man formerly known as 'El Matador' is now called 'The Legend'. While Topuria is certainly a legend in the sport for what he's done so far, his fans aren't finding the new Nom de Guerre enticing.

Even if you translate the name into Spanish, 'La Leyenda', doesn't quite sound like a former champion who can put anyone away with one punch. Fans are making the Georgian-born Spaniard know that they're not impressed by this.

MMA Orbit reported the news on X, saying:

"Ilia Topuria has changed his name on Instagram to his new nickname... "The Legend"."

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Fans reacted quite unanimously in the comments section, with @JK_ATF saying:

"Who’s this guys PR team honestly 🙄"

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Meanwhile, @AnonMedley said:

"I fw Ilia but it’d be absolutely hilarious if he losses his next fight vs. whoever it may be"

Check out more comments below:

Fan comments. [Screenshot courtesy: @mma_orbit on X]

Ilia Topuria relinquishes UFC featherweight belt, the UFC puts together new title bout at UFC 314

Back in February, the UFC announced that Ilia Topuria had decided to vacate the UFC featherweight title after defending it successfully just once. The two men he defeated for the title, however, may merit 'El Matador' to believe that he has no other interesting match-ups in the division.

First, he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski - the man who has the second-most title wins at featherweight - to obtain the belt. Next, he sent Max Holloway to the negative zone. Aside from being a two-time UFC featherweight champion and BMF champion, 'Blessed' has never been knocked out or even knocked down in his near-15-year career. Ilia Topuria handily stopped Holloway inside three rounds.

After these two monumental wins, the Georgian-Spanish fighter decided to look up to lightweight and conquer the belt there. He cited a lack of interest in featherweight competition and difficulty in making 145 pounds. Unlike other recent champions aspiring for simultaneous champ-champ status, Topuria didn't want to hold up the division and decided to let others take his place.

Now, the UFC put together a world title fight for the vacant featherweight throne. At UFC 314, the aforementioned Volkanovski will face surging Brazilian star Diego Lopez in the main event.

About the author

Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Jigyanshushri Mahanta