Ilia Topuria’s brother to make UFC debut at UFC 312 in February

There will soon be a new pair of brothers in the UFC.

MMA Fighting confirmed that Aleksandre Topuria — older brother to featherweight champion Ilia Topuria — will make his promotional debut at UFC 312 when he takes on Cody Haddon in a bantamweight bout. Álvaro Colmenero was first to report the bout.

28 years old and just 5-1 in his MMA career, Topuria has not competed since May of 2023, a first-round finish over Johan Segas in Spanish regional promotional The Way of Warrior FC. “El Cazador” signed with the UFC back in August, saying that he took time off from his career to help his brother win the UFC featherweight title but would now resume his own MMA dreams.

Just 26 years old, Haddon signed with the UFC following a first-round submission win over Billy Brand on the most recent season of Contender Series. His overall career record is 8-1, with his lone loss coming to former flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg back in 2021.

UFC 312 takes place on Feb. 9 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The event is headlined by a middleweight title rematch between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland and also features a strawweight title bout between Weili Zhang and Tatiana Suarez.

Mike Heck contributed to this report.