Media Topuria Pulls Back Says He ONLY wants 3 Fighters For NEXT Fight - Wants to Defend Title Once Then Go For LW Belt

[HerpDerp]

 

[daniel san]

Wow, is he the GOAT at becoming the most dislikeable FW champ? Before Volk he had beaten one ranked fighter - he needs to defend AT LEAST a couple of times before even thinking about fighting above his weight. Holloway is also already tied up in a fight and might die, so I think that maybe, just maybe, he should fight a ranked FW next.

 

[beater81]

I hate these fucking weight jumping champions. Clean your division out first then vacate and move up.

 

[El Casualito]

Ilia is a well known mmathematician and according to him since he beat Volk he takes all of his wins so it's like he cleared out the division already

 

[Striker33]

At this point Islam should try 170 to avoid these 145lbs guys trying to take his belt, Oh wait never mind

 

[Cartiac]

This crap is just embarrassing. If these guys want big money fights then be the big money guy that everyone wants to pay to see. Don't try to wrap your lips around someone else's sack that 10 other guys are already hanging from hoping to catch a bit of dribble.

 

[Harlekin]

Islam could strike with Volk because he is 5'10 to Volk's 5'6 and Volk has no power.
He is still taller and rangier than Topuria, but not enough, so he gets outclassed on the feet, badly.

Question is, can Topuria who is good on the ground, evade enough grappling against the taller and heavier man.
Imo Islam can definately get Topuria on the ground and control him quite some time.

Also does Islam get the usual IV, fake weigh in or even Abu Dhabi scale?
And with the new even lesser drug testing, is meldonium and stuff back?

 

[tritestill]

This take is a bit weird, MMA comes from a time of open weight, sherdoggers often complain that there are too many belts, yet, when a guy, the best at 145, wants to fight one of the best, the best at 155, he gets ridiculed, i mean, sure there is the upside of more glory without defending, skipping the line and all of that, but isnt this the best fighting the best? In the closest weight class possible? I mean, literally its the best fighting the best.

PS: This is another look at it, for ME, just having a belt, no defenses, should be enough for 1 title shot at another division, one shot, more they have to earn it.

This is so fucking stupid and not worth an intelligent response tbh.

 

[HolmeZy55]

Islam could strike with Volk because he is 5'10 to Volk's 5'6 and Volk has no power.

Yet Volk rocked him multiple times in their first fight.

Question is, can Topuria who is good on the ground, evade enough grappling against the taller and heavier man.
Imo Islam can definately get Topuria on the ground and control him quite some time.

Yeah I don't see Top being able to deal with the wrestling of Islam, he will get dominated imo.

 

[pankrat]

LW to FW is only 10 lbs. It's not a matter of "too small", you just keep up your normal diet during camp while the other person runs at a deficit for the last month of camp, and you end up about the same size for the fight without having to get fat for it. The problem here is the skill discrepancy and that Topuria has neither the dominance nor the PPV drawing ability for Islam to care about that fight. Volk was ahead of Islam on the p4p rankings, so he wanted to beat the guy ahead of him. There is no sales pitch for the fight other than charity from Islam.

10lbs is a considerable amount of gap for those weightclasses, almost two weightclasses in boxing.
Specially considering Topuria has competed at 135 and is not a big weight cutter FW, while Islam is a big weight cutter LW who could not even entertain the idea of making 145.

So in fight night, which is what matters, the weight differece would probably be more than 10lbs which is not small gap for a LW. Not like it's a crazy gap but its definitely meaningful

 

[Jon's Drug Dealer]

O'Malley wants to go up. Topuria wants to go up. Islam wants to go up. Edwards wanted to go up when Strickland was champ. DDP wants to go up. Pereira wants to go up. That leaves Pantoja as the only male champion who doesn't want to move up to attempt to become double champ, while Figgy wanted to try but lost, and Cejudo did go up.

Can you fucks stay in your divisions?

 

[World eater]

Y’all get way too butthurt. Dude is undefeated and just destroyed Volk. If he wants to move up to fight Islam, good for him. That’s a way tougher fight than anyone at fw but everyone throws a fit because they would rather watch him fight a contender. I’m cool with watching the absolute best fight the best.

but look at it from Islam’s perspective. He is also dominant, why should he fight these small guys? He should call out Leon and Leon should call out DDP.
There should be a rule of at least 3 defenses. Or vacate and move up for good. There is no point to these small weight classes otherwise.

 

[nostradumbass]

It's about the frame. Islam's frame is massive compared to Topuria. Ilia has fought at 135lbs for Christ's sakes.

He's also fought at LW before, in the UFC.

10lbs is a considerable amount of gap for those weightclasses, almost two weightclasses in boxing.
Specially considering Topuria has competed at 135 and is not a big weight cutter FW, while Islam is a big weight cutter LW who could not even entertain the idea of making 145.

So in fight night, which is what matters, the weight differece would probably be more than 10lbs which is not small gap for a LW. Not like it's a crazy gap but its definitely meaningful

Who told you Topuria wasn't a big weight cutter? He cuts more for FW than Islam does for LW, and was pulled off the card at 270 because of his dangerous cut.

He says in the interview here that he would be 77 kg (170 lbs) in the cage against Volk, and that's him restricting his diet the whole camp to make FW. Islam was 172-173 in the cage against Volk at LW last year, but is usually more like 175 when gets full time to rehydrate. Topuria would be about the same for a LW fight.

UFC 298: Ilia Topuria Grabs Fans’ Attention as He Still Needs to Cut 16 lbs for Alexander Volkanovski Fight- “Very Average Cut”

A recent revelation from Ilia Topuria about his weight cut for the UFC 298 title fight against Alexander Volkanovski had a positive reception.

www.essentiallysports.com

 

[pankrat]

He's also fought at LW before, in the UFC.

Yeah and BJ Penn was a UFC WW champ. It doesnt change the fact he was an undersized WW

Who told you Topuria wasn't a big weight cutter? He cuts more for FW than Islam does for LW, and was pulled off the card at 270 because of his dangerous cut.

He says in the interview here that he would be 77 kg (170 lbs) in the cage against Volk, and that's him restricting his diet the whole camp to make FW. Islam was 172-173 in the cage against Volk at LW last year, but is usually more like 175 when gets full time to rehydrate. Topuria would be about the same for a LW fight.

UFC 298: Ilia Topuria Grabs Fans’ Attention as He Still Needs to Cut 16 lbs for Alexander Volkanovski Fight- “Very Average Cut”

A recent revelation from Ilia Topuria about his weight cut for the UFC 298 title fight against Alexander Volkanovski had a positive reception.

www.essentiallysports.com

So Topuria restricting his diet is around 170lbs while Islam restricting his diet is in the low 180lbs according to his coach Javier Mendez

They are around 10lbs apart, which is why Topuria can consistently make FW unless its short notice and Islam simply cant even consider to compete at 145, let alone at 135 as Ilia has done in the past. To pretend they are the same size is absurd

 

[Ozze]

Besides the Max fight, hopefully he won't get anything of what he's asking.

 

[Wreckless]

Too small to be competitive at LW, is he what, like 1" taller than Volk? At best.


Yup, Volk made that mistake twice.

It's true that he's too small for LW, but tf does his height have to do with anything?

 

[vinnie245]

O'Malley wants to go up. Topuria wants to go up. Islam wants to go up. Edwards wanted to go up when Strickland was champ. DDP wants to go up. Pereira wants to go up. That leaves Pantoja as the only male champion who doesn't want to move up to attempt to become double champ, while Figgy wanted to try but lost, and Cejudo did go up.

Can you fucks stay in your divisions?

Pretty sure i saw an interview where Pantoja also said he wanted to move up and fight O'Malley for the BW strap...
Theres also Zhang whos also spoken about moving up and fighting Grasso so its literally every division.

 

[Kryptt]

Very fond of Ilia but not fond of lane jumping after winning a title.



I know they are trying to be as "big" as possible and get those eyes and dollars but it kills the divisional vibe.

 

[Tweak896]

When are we going to get real champs that want to break defense records? I actually don't mind a double champ opportunity, but it's like no one wants to clear their divisions anymore.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

This division jumping bullshit is ruining MMA.