On The Craic, we’ve previously heard about what Ilia Topuria means to Spanish MMA and the broader Hispanic MMA community, but we have never got the perspective from his true homeland, Georgia. 

Today, Petesy is joined by celebrated Georgian mixed-martial-arts journalist, Giorgi Kokiashvili of Setanta Sports, to discuss how the sport has exploded in the small nation, which has a population of just 3.7 million people. 

Giorgi takes us behind the scenes of his viral social media posts showing people up in the early hours to celebrate Ilia Topuria’s title capture over Alexander Volkanovski. He also gives insight into Ilia’s homecoming, where 5000 people welcomed him home at the national airport and over 51,000 soccer fans lauded him at a recent home game against Luxembourg. 

Too add to that, Giorgi answered Petesy’ prying questions about how Georgian people feel about Ilia’s association with Spain and, who is beloved more, Ilia or bantamweight number one contender, Merab Dvalishvili?