Ilia Topuria is a featherweight champion in the UFC. Being the country’s pride as the first ever Georgian to do so, he is considered one of the most complete mixed martial artists today, from standup to the ground. In this article, we will talk about Ilia’s fighting style and what makes him an indomitable force inside the octagon.
Ilia Topuria’s Background
Ilia was born in 1997 in Germany to Georgian parents, and he first started training in Greco-Roman wrestling alongside his brother, Alex. He started training in Greco-Roman wrestling at six and continued until 2012, before he and his family moved to Spain. Continuing their hopes to get into the Olympics by competing in wrestling and showing their promising talent in the art, the brothers’ failure to find a gym in Spain that would cater to their needs for Greco-Roman training has led them to an MMA gym.
Luckily, Ilia’s mother was familiar with the typical looks of a fighter, having seen and then asked a man with cauliflower ears, which turned out to be Hamlet Perez, a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA under the Climent club (MMA gym). The gym was owned by brothers Augustin and Jorge Climent, who turned out to be students of the great 5th-degree BJJ blackbelt professor Mario Sukata.
The brothers went to Climent gym and learned BJJ before pursuing MMA. With a few months of training, at the age of 15, Ilia decided to dedicate his time to becoming the best fighter in the world. In 2015, Ilia debuted in MMA; by age 21, the brothers became the first Georgian Jiu-Jitsu black belts.
In 2020, Ilia entered the UFC, and as of this writing, he has a record of 16 wins, eight submissions, and six knockouts, with no defeats in his professional career.
Ilia’s Key To Victory
Analyzing his style, Ilia effectively sets his powerful punches from the standup and is not afraid of the fight getting on the ground due to his BJJ accolade. He does well on the clinches due to his Greco-Roman wrestling background and does a good job defending or recovering from takedowns. Observing his fights, below are some of Ilia’s keys to victory.
1) Constant Pressure
Showing his completeness as a fighter, Ilia can perform well in standup and on the ground. He breaks his opponent’s rhythm with constant pressure, putting their backs near the cage as he hunts them down.
Ilia is the first to dethrone Alex Volkanovski’s reign in the UFC’s featherweight division and did this by constantly chasing Alex around the cage as the minute went by the rounds. Along with a threat of takedowns, Ilia sets his punches with powerful calf kicks to distract his opponents. The constant forward pressure that makes the opponent wonder what Ilia may be setting up keeps them at bay, and they play a defensive game instead of imposing their game plan against him.
A fighter who is not afraid of taking damage and is prepared to play along with the risks will win the psychological warfare during the match most of the time.
2) Crisp Striking
Ilia packs some powerful punches in his hands and says that his inspiration for his boxing is the Mexican style, particularly Canelo Álvarez. Adapting it to MMA, Ilia sets his strikes with calf kicks when the opponent gets too far away from the punching range.
His striking style involves attacking the body and then going for the head. Ilia sets his knockout shots by constantly managing the distance and attacking the opponent’s body with hard body shots. These hard body shots force the opponents to cover up with their arms, leaving their heads open for the knockout blow as Ilia throws his hard hooks and overhands to seal the deal.
Ilia’s shots are just as powerful on the ground, as shown in his match against Ryan Hall. Ilia knocked out Ryan Hall by throwing powerful shots on the ground, finishing him with constant ground and pound.
3) Unwavering Confidence
Of all the successful fighters in history, one thing is common: their self-belief, which gives them the ultimate confidence to win and overcome adversities. With Conor McGregor being one of the most pivotal figures in MMA, Ilia admits to taking inspiration from McGregor early on in his career.
Confidence allows him to approach his matches with serenity, giving him the belief that his hand will be raised after every fight. This allows him to achieve greater heights, with always a new goal to conquer and is the sole purpose of what made all great men great. Ilia dreamt of becoming an Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in his youth. He also spoke about the possibility of competing at the highest level of boxing if he hadn’t been in MMA.
Ilia speaks with certainty, and his winning attitude has been the key to his success and personal branding.
4) Wrestling Skills
As mentioned above, Ilia trained in Greco-Roman wrestling growing up. This has been evident in his MMA fights, where he efficiently puts his opponents down by lifting and throwing them around. What made his wrestling background even more handy is that it inherently developed his takedown defense.
With Bryce Mitchell known for his grappling-dominant approach to MMA, Ilia successfully nullified his fighting style in their meeting and eventually submitted him to end the match. During their meeting, Ilia showcased his takedown defense and recovery to prove his wrestling prowess. His wrestling skills are one of the keys that brought Ilia to the top.
5) A Menace On The Ground
Ilia is the first Georgian BJJ black belt who is equally powerful on the ground as he is throwing explosive shots on the standup. With most of his wins coming from submissions, his high-level grappling can be observed in his match against Ryan Hall.
Ryan Hall is known as a BJJ wizard and is revered for his ground game, particularly his lightning leg entanglement entries, before finishing his opponents via leg lock. Showing his high-level Jiu-Jitsu, Ilia is aware of such threats when facing opponents like Hall. This awareness neutralized the match-up, allowing the striking department to determine who won the fight.
Hall’s failure to impose his game allowed Ilia to work on the striking aspect, opening a leeway for him to dominate in the other area of MMA.
Conclusion
Ilia consistently showcases what is possible in high-level MMA. He is constantly evolving and excellent in all aspects—a well-rounded fighter indeed. As the current champion, it’s exciting to see what could be next for Ilia.
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