Aleksandre Topuria, the Georgian and Spanish professional mixed martial artist, on Saturday, after being away from the arena for almost two years, made his UFC debut and defeated Australian Colby Thicknesse in the bantamweight division at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Topuria, who had taken a hiatus from the sport to focus on coaching and mentoring his brother, Ilia Topuria, the reigning UFC featherweight champion, won all three rounds, with judges scoring the bout 30:27 unanimously in his favour.

Prior to this fight, he had a record of five wins and one loss in MMA, while for his opponent, this was the first loss of his career, having previously won seven fights.