The Lethal Mindset of Ilia Topuria
How to build your own million dollar mindset...
Ilia Topuria is the embodiment of a Lethal Gentleman, a Spanish Bruce Wayne operating at the highest levels of combat sports.
His three-fight knockout streak reads like fiction: Volkanovski, Holloway, Oliveira. Each finish more devastating than the last. One of the most impressive runs in UFC history.
But the knockouts are no where near as impressive as his mental fortitude.
He is on the same calibre of mentality as Ronaldo, Michael Jordan & Conor McGregor.
Topuria is multilingual (Spanish, English, Georgian, German, Russian), holds equity stakes in multiple businesses, including WOW FC, Spain's emerging MMA powerhouse. He maintains intimate ties with Real Madrid, training with the infrastructure and professionalism of elite football.
His training & recovery processes are world class. He has built a multi-million dollar facility at his home in Spain and with his team of sports doctors, strength & conditioning coaches & specialised martial arts team, he is becoming an unstoppable force.
He is the new wave of martial artist, and will be setting the tone for the next generation.
And in this article, we are going to dissect 3 core principles behind the Lethal Mindset of Topuria & cover things I have noticed about his mindset since extensively studying him for over 2 years now…
1. DON’T JUST WIN, DOMINATE.
IIlia Topuria isn't interested in close fights.
He doesn't want to edge out split decisions or survive five-round wars that strip years from his life. He wants to dismantle opponents so completely that spectators question whether they belong in the same octagon.
Topuria sees no glory in being labeled "tough." Toughness implies you absorbed damage. Dominance means you never allowed your opponent to inflict any.
He wants to be remembered for technique, skill, and surgical precision. Not for his ability to endure punishment.
This philosophy doesn't just preserve his health for a longer career, it demonstrates his obsession with existing levels above his competition.
High performers across every domain share this mindset. They don't aim to be marginally better than second place. They engineer gaps so wide that their superiority becomes unquestionable.
Topuria's commitment to this principle borders on obsession. Early in his career, he would record his sparring sessions and ask himself a brutal question: "Would I pay to watch myself fight?"
If the answer was no, he went back to work.
This self-interrogation shaped his entire fighting identity. Despite being a BJJ black belt who's wrestled since childhood, skills that could easily create a grinding, boring style…Topuria deliberately developed into one of the UFC's most fundamentally sound strikers.
Because everyone wants to watch knock outs.
He could choose the safe path: take opponents down, control them, win boringly.
Instead, he chose the path of artistic dominance.
If he continues this trajectory, he may possess the most impressive boxing the UFC has ever witnessed.
In whatever you do, aim to not only be the best in the world at it, but unanimously.
I don’t give a fuck whether thats a banker, a businessman or an athlete, aim for absolute domination in your craft.
2. REIGN SUPREME IN ALL ENDEVOURS
Ilia Topuria doesn't rest on his laurels, even in his own domain of expertise.
While most fighters obsess solely over their next opponent, Topuria studies the game of business with the same intensity he brings to studying fight tape.
His strategy mirrors Floyd Mayweather's blueprint: get in, maximize earnings, leave unscathed.
But Topuria takes it further.
Even at the peak of his athletic prime, he's already thinking beyond the octagon. He constantly asks himself: "How can I be as well-rounded as humanly possible? What other skills do I need to master?"
This intellectual curiosity drives him to develop competencies that most athletes ignore entirely.
Having this multi-dimensional approach in a fighting sport is incredibly rare.
It's something I learned the hard way in my high school years. I had earned a full sporting scholarship to one of Australia's most prestigious schools. Instead of putting all my eggs in the professional soccer career I was chasing, I leveraged the academic excellence that school offered.
While my teammates focused solely on training, I excelled academically as well.
Fast forward to my final year: a career-ending shoulder injury destroyed my professional soccer prospects. But because I had developed academic prowess alongside athletic ability, I had unlimited career paths available.
One of my best friends wasn't so fortunate. He was a first-round AFL draft pick who ignored academics because his athletic future seemed guaranteed. After multiple concussions forced an early retirement, he found himself without options—professionally stranded because he had put everything into a single basket.
The lesson was brutal but clear: specialists are fragile, multi-dimensional men are anti-fragile.
The goal is to be the person that everyone thinks is ‘good at everything’, and now everyone across the board is so fucking lazy, its easy to become a Modern Renaissance man, if you are intentional.
3. ARROGANT CONFIDENCE + UNDENIABLE SKILL
Ilia is constantly accused of being arrogant.
And it makes sense:
Put ‘UFC World Champion’ in his bio before knocking the UFC Featherweight GOAT out (Alex Volkanovski).
Celebrates at the end of every fight camp with wine before he has even won
Predicts that he will finish every opponent he faces, and even picks the round (e.g Round 1 KO this weekend vs Olivera).
For MMA casuals, this comes across as cocky.
But this is the outcome of someone who has been training in the sport of martial arts since he was 5 years old.
Who has decades of striking, grappling and mixed martial arts experience.
From someone who has built his own training facility at home, with millions of dollars of recovery equipment, saunas, hyperbaric chambers and a team of nutritionists, doctors, physical therapists, and some of the best skills coaches in Europe.
When you leave absolutely no stone unturned, you don’t have any regret, any doubts or any worries.
Anyone who even does 1% of what Ilia does in preparation of a business opportunity, an athletic event or any opportunity you have, its impossible NOT to be arrogant when you not only put in the work, but you are literally the best in the world.
Every world champion started off as ‘delusional’.
You see the same things said about Ronaldo, Michael Jordan and others who had an obsessive, borderline narcissistic obsession with being the absolute fucking best.
It’s almost a prerequisite to getting to the absolute highest firmaments of your potential.
Topuria’s Million Dollar Mindset….
Is transferable for any endeavour.
Whether you want to be a better businessman, father, athlete…
Or just a better man across the board.
The Lethal Gentlemen’s Club and those that resonate with this message do not want to be average.
They want to seperate themselves from the average.
Physically.
Mentally.
And in a time where everyones so distracted by the brain rot of social media, you have the opportunity to dial in a mindset that will allow you to absolutely lap everyone around you.
If you want an entire training system that embodies these characteristics, read this.
J.Krucial.
Banger
Never heard about this guy until now. Very impressive! Would love hear more of his origin story