{"id":244,"date":"2026-02-26T19:36:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/?p=244"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:15:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:15:03","slug":"history-will-remember-stathis-nedas-formerly-known-as-ilia-topuria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"History Will Remember Stathis Nedas (Formerly Known as Ilia Topuria)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-medium-font-size is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(2,3,129) 0%,rgb(27,152,46) 100%)\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Ilia Topuria won his third UFS championship, he felt something was missing. Not skill. Not belts. Not money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Respect from Greek uncles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So one morning he announced:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy name is no longer Ilia Topuria. From now on\u2026 I am <strong>Stathis Nedas<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nobody questioned it. Mostly because he knocked out the first journalist who laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the name Stathis Nedas, his power increased by at least 400%. Scientists couldn\u2019t explain it. His punches didn\u2019t just knock people out, they fixed their credit score, canceled their gym memberships, and made them apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He defended his belt 38 times. Once, his opponent tapped out during the stare-down. Another tapped out during the walkout. One tapped out watching from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Years passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decades passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, at age 83, Stathis Nedas entered the UFS arena one last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crowd stood up. The belt was still around his waist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He looked legendary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He looked terrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He looked\u2026 slightly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He took one step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>crack<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOh. Wait. One second.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He slowly pulled out a wooden stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The referee asked, \u201cIs that allowed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stathis replied, \u201cBrother, this is not a weapon. This is survival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He leaned on it, lifted his belt, and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have defeated every opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c\u2026except sleeping in a bad position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crowd exploded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But now sponsored by orthopedic mattresses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"462\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/640300369_1393331025449498_1064020997487273981_n-462x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-245\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.45116971967115804;width:446px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/640300369_1393331025449498_1064020997487273981_n-462x1024.jpg 462w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/640300369_1393331025449498_1064020997487273981_n-135x300.jpg 135w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/640300369_1393331025449498_1064020997487273981_n.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"731\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-731x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-731x1024.png 731w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-214x300.png 214w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-768x1075.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-1097x1536.png 1097w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051-1463x2048.png 1463w, https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AIEnhancer_10000560051.png 1760w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-1\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"244\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"cookie\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-thumbs-up\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">3    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><div class=\"pld-dislike-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-dislike-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"244\" data-trigger-type=\"dislike\" data-restriction=\"cookie\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-thumbs-down\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-dislike-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\"><\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Ilia Topuria won his third UFS championship, he felt something was missing. Not skill. Not belts. Not money. Respect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.walkless.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}