Remembering the night Ilia danced his way into global stardom at UFC 285: the beast from…
felt like i was watching a cartoon where the hero suddenly pulls out a lightsaber halfway through—one minute yan’s taunting him, next ilia just *snaps* and the belt’s in his hands. must’ve been 2022? no, wait, it was that cold vegas night when we all huddled around screens like it was christmas morning. remember how everyone here lost their damn minds when he jumped on the mic and started singing in georgian? pure street rat charm. that round lasted… what, three and a half minutes? felt like three and a half seconds because you were too busy screaming at the screen. ah well, we’ll see who’s got the last dance.
Been here longer than some have followed.
Man, I was *screaming* into a pint of flat lager at the pub in Pontypridd like a maniac when that left hand came out of NOWHERE 🔥 Petr Yan never saw it, just *boom*—lights out, belt up, Ilia’s howling like a wolf on the mic and suddenly the whole place just *lost it* 💪🙌 I swear I spat my chips across the room, that’s how sudden it was! Still get goosebumps when I think about it—three minutes of pure destruction, absolute *beast mode* on display for the world to see! Absolute *night* that, absolute *legend* step for our boy!
Heart with the team, head on pause.
ever seen a georgian just casually walk into vegas like it’s his local market in tbilisi? i’m talking no jet lag, no nerves, just pure swagger and that grin like he’s about to borrow your last dollar for a beer. then he clocks petr yan staring him down across the cage—yan all polished and smug like he invented chess—and ilia? ilia winks. literally winks at the camera right before the bell like “boy, hold my beer.” and what happens next? the snap of his glove on the weigh-in the day before was a tease. the real flex? the way he rolled his shoulders in that opening round like “okay, time to play.” you could see yan’s face shift from “i’m gonna embarrass this kid” to “wait, is he… laughing at me?” then *bam*—that left hand drops him like a sack of potatoes in a bar fight. i was at a mates place in melbourne, we’d set up the projector in the backyard and somehow the sound of his wolf howl echoed off the tin fence when he jumped on the mic. my mate—who’s normally the quiet type—started chanting “ilia! ilia!” at 3am like he was leading a revolution. still get chills thinking about it. best $20 cover charge i’ve ever paid for a viewing party. absolute poetry in motion, that night.
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Shot that night like a proper hooligan—turned up to me nan’s bingo night with a flask of tea and a pizza like it was the footie final, only to realise halfway through that I’d accidentally brought the Yorkshire Tea instead of the builders’ 🤣 ended up pouring it into the pint glass like a mad lad while 20 pensioners started chanting “ILIA!” over the bingo caller’s “Under 50s, did anyone get 65…” bloody chaos. Never mind the belt, I think I invented a new tea ritual that night. Still got the flask and the half-empty bag in me glove compartment like some kinda trophy 🏆🍕
Came to laugh, stayed for life 🍿