Ilia Topuria announces her return after the loss to Justin Gaethje

The Matador is back. This was announced in a video published on their social networks. In it, Ilia Topuria appears writing a letter dedicated to her son, in which she reviews everything she has experienced during the two and a half months after her defeat against Justin Gaethje, in which she fell brutally and lost her belt in the fight held at the White House.

It is difficult to forget the images of the Hispanic-Georgian fighter with his face completely destroyed. Supported by his brother and his team, Ilia left the South Lawn of Donald Trump's residence and, with him, moved away from the spotlight to recover from the first defeat of his career.

In reality, the letter distances the fighter from his sporting side and brings him closer to what is human, to what is mortal. Topuria has always spoken from above, from victory; now he does it from a place he had not yet experienced. "Hugo... I've been thinking about you for a few days. About what you felt when you saw me fall. I know you suffered and, as a father, I would give anything to have saved you that moment. But I'm also glad that we lived it together. Because that day made us both stronger," Topuria began.

And although he has always appeared before the cameras as a winner who is impossible to defeat, he continued: "I want you to always remember one thing: in life you don't always win. And that's okay. Because losing is not the important thing. The important thing is how you lose. Who you decide to be when everything goes dark. When you have to choose between staying on the ground... or getting back up. I believe that God wanted me to live that moment to teach me a lesson that no victory could teach me. That character does not appear when everything is going well; reveals when life puts its most difficult day before you".

But the fighter wanted to make it clear that he is back and that that defeat has served no purpose other than to make him stronger, after learning from that part of the career that he never wanted to experience: "And do you know what I discovered? That after visiting that hell, I am stronger than before. Because a champion is not the one who never falls. He is the one who always finds a reason to get up."

"That is the only thing I wish for you. Not that you always win, but that you never be afraid of losing. That no defeat has the power to tell you who you are. Because only you decide that. And, no matter what happens, always remember this: character is the only victory that no one can take away from you," Topuria's emotional letter concluded.

82 days have passed since his last public appearance. 82 days of uncertainty regarding his physical condition and his return to competition. All this time, Topuria had stayed out of the spotlight, quietly recovering from the hardest night of his career. Now he breaks that silence with a clear message: he is back, "stronger than before."

We will still have to wait to find out when he will enter the octagon again and against whom he will do it. But Topuria's message leaves no room for doubt: the Matador has returned. After experiencing defeat for the first time, he returns with a new certainty, that one can also win after falling. "We are back," he closed his message.