The image of Topuria with the youngest UFC fighter that has shocked fans

On June 28, former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria faces a very ambitious challenge: becoming the champion of a second weight class, lightweight, in the world's largest mixed martial arts (MMA) league. To do so, he'll have to defeat Brazilian and former featherweight champion Charles 'Do Bronx' Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317, which is being held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as part of International Fight Week.

With his trademark mentality, El Matador, as he is nicknamed, has been acclimating for several days in Sin City, which will be the global epicenter of mixed martial arts during the sport's biggest week. There, alongside other members of his team such as Javi Climent, Jesús Gallo, and Doctor Aldo, he is undergoing various technical training sessions and is gradually adjusting his weight, as he will have to weigh 155 pounds, or 70.3 kilograms, on the scale on June 27 .

Thus, for the final stretch of his training camp, Topuria visited the Performance Institute (PI) in Las Vegas , the UFC-owned high-performance center that can be used by various athletes signed to the American company, as well as their teams. During one of those training sessions, El Matador met the youngest fighter on the entire UFC roster, Raúl Rosas Jr., who didn't miss the opportunity to ask the MMA superstar for a photo.

Reactions to the image have been swift. As can be seen in the snapshot, 20-year-old Raúl Rosas Jr., who signed with the UFC at just 17, appears to be larger than Topuria himself, despite competing in two lower weight divisions (Rosas Jr. is a bantamweight at 135 pounds, 61.2 kilos, while Ilia is now a lightweight at 155 pounds, 70.3 kilos). However, some comments have suggested that this is due to two reasons: the optical effect of the image, given that Rosas Jr. is a step ahead of him, and Topuria's weight cut, which is already in full swing ahead of his fight against Oliveira. Present and future in a photo to remember.