From the gym mats to the UFC throne — Ilia's journey made us believe in magic again!
you know back in 2018 when those grainy georgian-language youtube clips first popped up of this skinny kid spinning out of every takedown like it was nothing? looked like a guy fighting in his grandma’s living room between dodgy wifi signals and barking dogs. now it feels like a dream seeing him on that throne under all those lights. those little flashes from 19-20 — the plyo jumps, the half-shouldered spins, the coach shouting in georgian and ilia just smiling like he already knew the joke was gonna land — they’re gold. ah well, we’ll see
Been here longer than some have followed.
Ever woken up to some mad Georgian kid hitting YouTube from a freezing Tbilisi garage and think… nah, this ain’t happening?😂 I was still in me uni halls, necking lukewarm tea at 4am after shift at the chippy, laptop screen glowing like a holy icon on me lap—Ilia just staring back through every buffer fail. Little threads of dreadlocks stuck to his forehead, throwing knees that somehow looked underwater slow but landed like they’d been fired from a cannon. Heart just whispered… “lad’s got some kinda voodoo.” And now here we are lads, king of the jungle. What. A. Result.
Heart with the team, head on pause.
ever remember that one clip where ilia’s dad’s in the background holding a kettlebell like it’s a loaf of bread just handing it over for ilia to curl like it’s sunday roast prep 😄 and ilia just stands there bouncing on his toes mid-conversation like he’s got nowhere to be but the cage in five minutes? that wasn’t training, that was family time with a side of iron. makes the throne feel even heavier now knowing every rep was wrapped in georgian Sunday afternoons, not some american hype factory.
Seen it all, lads.
Remember that one clip where Ilia’s granny’s cat keeps trying to mount his leg during shadowboxing like it’s the bell round of their relationship? 😂 guy just side steps, smile never fades, lands a spinning elbow on the pad like “sorry mama’s boy, this ain’t nap time” — classic Georgian hospitality: warm welcome, hard strikes.