Who Have You Got: Ilia Topuria vs. Ryan Hall?

[Kratos94]

Both prospects (Hall, not so much - he is 36) and are undefeated thus far in the UFC.

Ilia Topuria (10-0) vs. Ryan Hall (8-1)
Hall's last fight (vs. BJ Penn):


Ilia Topuria's last fight (vs. Damon Jackson):


Hall is one dimensional, but elite at what he does, but his wrestling isn't good - his best way of getting to a grappling scenario is by pulling guard, and Topuria has really heavy hands; is a really solid boxer; good footwork; great wrestler and has a promising future.

However, this is a strange fight, Hall probably won't go far, but can give problems to most of the lower ranked featherweights; I really think Topuria will crush him and get some early/prolonged knockout. Hall's only way to grapple is to pull guard and will most likely get chewed up should he try and strike.

Thoughts?

 

[Big Dawg]

Hall by decision.

 

[Eiger]

Tilapia by savagery.

 

[mmacool]

Ryan Hall kicking game is strong af. And everybody is afraid to get to close to Hall. Could be a fun fight.

 

[Joseph_McBride]

My prediction is that Hall pulls put within the next few weeks

 

[Sweater of AV]

Didn't know Hall had a fight. Hope he wins.

 

[rodkek]

Tilapia, hall is a can crusher pullout merchant who claims that everyone is ducking him despite not being ranked

 

[Reach4theSky]

Ryan Hall - giving hope to awkward nerds everywhere..

 

[Raymundo Alvarado Guevara]

Ilia, hope Ryan wont pull out

 

[Kratos94]

Hall by decision.

That could happen, but he wont keep Topuria away from closing in on him. Topuria's footwork is too good to just afford Hall the chance of trying to volume-kick him.

This is just my intuition, but I think Topuria is an awful match-up for Hall

 

[Kratos94]

Ryan Hall kicking game is strong af. And everybody is afraid to get to close to Hall. Could be a fun fight.

I also think Hall will be screwed here. Topuria can be a long range boxer when he needs to be, but he also has some brutal body work, I think Hall will get brutalized anywhere this fight ends up

If Hall somehow gets top position, then, of course, Topuria will lose the round/get submitted

 

[KingBeef]

For some reason while watching those Hall highlights, I could only hear the Benny Hill theme song playing in my head.

 

[DerKoenig]

I'm really high on Topuria. Hall is old and injured, won't take Topuria down, gonna get lit up on the feet.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Both prospects (Hall, not so much - he is 36) and are undefeated thus far in the UFC.

Ilia Topuria (10-0) vs. Ryan Hall (8-1)
Hall's last fight (vs. BJ Penn):


Ilia Topuria's last fight (vs. Damon Jackson):


Hall is one dimensional, but elite at what he does, but his wrestling isn't good - his best way of getting to a grappling scenario is by pulling guard, and Topuria has really heavy hands; is a really solid boxer; good footwork; great wrestler and has a promising future.

However, this is a strange fight, Hall probably won't go far, but can give problems to most of the lower ranked featherweights; I really think Topuria will crush him and get some early/prolonged knockout. Hall's only way to grapple is to pull guard and will most likely get chewed up should he try and strike.

Thoughts?

Very interesting match up -- Topuria freaking cracks but I don't know enough about his overall game. I feel like Hall is a dude that on any given day can beat the champion or get knocked out by someone outside of the top 20 -- hard to say where his game is at these days since he has been on the sidelines for so long. I will keep my eyes glued to this one. Surely others here know more of Topuria than I do.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

My prediction is that Hall pulls put within the next few weeks

This sounds like the most likely scenario. And then we get to hear Hall say no one wants to fight him smh

 

[Safton]

Just going to quote what I posted in the fight announcement thread:

I don't know how I would have rated Ryan's chances against Ige. But against Topuria... yikes. Ilia isn't exactly "proven" against high-level competition yet, but it's not like Hall is, either. That being said, Topuria has the advantage of youth and speed. He looked lethal as fuck with his boxing against Damon Jackson. Somehow he hit like a truck while still having crazy hand speed and great accuracy/shot selection. Shit was crazy. Hall might be able to throw him off with his reach and those unorthodox long-range kicks, of course... but his best chance of winning this fight is on the ground.

Therein lies the problem: Ilia is also a legit BJJ Black Belt himself with 7/10 wins by Submission (two RNCs, a triangle choke, two guillotine chokes [including one mounted], a triangle armbar, and an anaconda choke). On top of that, he was born and raised in Georgia. He grew up training/competing in Greco-Roman wrestling, which is his base. I suspect that will give him a leg up when it comes to TDD, scrambles, controlling clinch exchanges, and just generally avoiding the mat with a dangerous submission grappler like Hall.

I like Hall a lot. I was really hoping to see him accomplish something in the UFC or at least get some fights in at some point. But Ilia is an exciting prospect and strikes me as a bad stylistic match-up for Ryan. But hey, who knows? Maybe he'll pull off something crazy and shut down the hype train by stealing Ilia's 0 with an Imanari roll into a leg-lock after getting rocked on the feet? But at this moment I'm leaning toward the prospect.

 

[Kratos94]

Just going to quote what I posted in the fight announcement thread:

Nice analysis; however, Topuria was born in Germany and moved to Spain at a young age

I'm not sure where he trained GR though, it would make sense in Germany since he was born there; but he didn't grow up there; he grew up in Spain. Although, I am sure he regularly travels to Georgia where he would train GR, some of the world's best come from there

 

[JoshTehV]

illia cus hes ill dogg

 

[Fesaine]

Topuria by TKO in the second round.

 

[doozer]

Ryan Hall looked great on his feet, completely dominating Elkins who I greatly respect. Honestly I know nothing about Illia but I expect Hall to completely wreck him. True I haven’t looked into his competition, but I expect him to beat most fighters I don’t really know, even if 10-0... which isn’t much better a record than 8-1, not even looking who is on it.