It’s been just over a month since Ilia Topuria risked it all and managed to knock out dominant featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski. This instantly turned the Spanish-Georgian fighter into a full-fledged new star of the promotion, and the UFC is now ready to put together a card in Spain for the belt’s debut defense.
However, Topuria himself sets completely different goals and calls the fighters in his division who do not deserve a title opportunity “mediocre.” Ilia suggested to Max Holloway and Brian Ortega that they retire, and to Evloev that he finish off his father. But Topuria managed to flirt with a possible fight against Sean O’Malley and organize a mini conflict with Islam Makhachev.
Ilia Topuria with belt
Photo: José Velasco/Getty Images
To begin with, he reacted to the congratulations of the Russian champion, where the word “bijo” was used, essentially, boy. Ilya posted a fragment with the defeat of Islam and signed “the guy is knocking you out.” Even earlier, Matador claimed that he was better than Makhachev in everything and traditionally predicted that he would knock out the Russian.
Makhachev had a unique opportunity:
Makhachev rejected the possibility of surpassing Khabib. They may not give you another chance.
Topuria coach Jorge Clement is not far behind either: “Personally, as your coach, I will always prefer the biggest challenge to leave a legacy. Most of all I would like to fight Islam Makhachev. I would like to see Elijah move up in weight and win a second title. I think he is capable of doing it. If Volkanovski, with a full camp, gave Makhachev that fight, then I think Ilia can beat Islam. Now is the right time for it. It would be a great fight and then we could have a title defense at featherweight or even lightweight, who knows. Many opportunities will open up for us.”
The desire to win two belts is a new trend. Almost all current champions in one way or another have declared their desire to become owners of two belts; In this sense, only the heavyweights are unlucky. So Topuria follows the trend. But Ilya can really surprise Makhachev. Of course, it is important to say that if such a fight is organized, Islam will be the big favorite, who has many more keys to victory, but it would be a mistake to rule out Matador, as Topuria’s fight with Volkanovski should definitely have taught. .
Islam Makhachev
Photo: Getty Images
Ilya has true knockout power in both his hands and feet. He has excellent timing and well-executed boxing. Topuria is essentially a counterpuncher, but at the same time he constantly advances. Such pressure makes the opponents nervous, forces them to chaotically counterattack, and one way or another the battle moves to the phase when Ilya pushes the opponent into the net and from there begins to shoot serially. The fight with Volkanovski is an example of this. In the first round, Alex responded with kicks, not allowing anyone to get close to him, but as soon as he made a mistake, he immediately found himself at the net under a hail of blows.
One of the Nurmagomedov brothers is ready to meet with Topuria:
“For every bullfighter there is a bull.” Khabib’s star brother is ready to break into the UFC
We have already seen Islam get knocked out and since then he has grown a lot as a fighter, improving in all aspects. In addition, he began to act more carefully in defense. Makhachev misses the fewest punches in the division: 1.24 per minute. The stats were even better before the first fight with Volkanovski, so there is reason to believe that Topuria will be able to come close. It is important not to let him take the initiative.
In addition, Ilya is mistakenly considered exclusively a striker, although he began his career in this sport with wrestling and is very good at both grappling and jiu-jitsu. It was in the UFC that Matador revealed himself to the public as a knockout artist, but, for example, Bryce Mitchell, who is also good on the ground, was strangled by Topuria. And before joining the world’s main promotion, of eight victories (all ahead of schedule), seven were obtained by submission. Additionally, at first Ilia alternated between rear choke and guillotine, but at a higher level in Cage Warriors and Brave CF, the Spanish-Georgian fighter showed more variety. There was the D’Arce choke and then the arm triangle in the fight with Luis Gomez. And then, at Brave CF, Topuria unleashed his knockout power for the first time: it was on Steven Gonzalez. That’s when I received an invitation to the UFC.
This season, Brave CF streams are available on OKKO.
Topuria is a versatile MMA fighter who is comfortable in any aspect of the fight and could really be a problem for all the fighters in his division and for Makhachev if this fight takes place. Islam is now on a different level and deservedly takes first place in the P4P ranking. However, Topuria must be careful, because it will not be easy to subdue or knock him out. It will be a tough fight, with tough competition at all levels.
