News Charles Jourdain stepping in on short notice to fight Ilia Topuria at UFC 270

Who wins?


  • Total voters
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It's not official until all parties have signed the contracts. Also Jourdain could fail medicals/miss weight.
 
<{JustBleed}>

Jourdain you fucking mad lad. Total respect to this man. Kill or be killed style in the cage, never in a boring fight, and now he steps in to save this fight against one of the scariest prospects at 145 just a few weeks after his last fight.

I feel like it should be competitive on the feet, but I'm not sure how much it will be in practice. Rojo was getting the better of Jourdain on short notice until he gassed late. Went to war with Culibao for a Draw. Hell, even Erosa was outstriking him at points in their fight before he tapped Charles. Don't get me wrong, Charles is a very slick and dangerous striker who uses more tools than Ilia does and he looked great against Ewell (a primary boxer like Topuria)... but there's levels to this, to sound a bit trite about it.

That being said, if Topuria does find that Charles's striking game is giving him a look he doesn't much care for (whether due to the low kicks or what have you), he can always just lean into his offensive grappling. It's a historical weakness of Jourdain. Fili outwrestled him to eke out the Decision over him, Desmond Green did the same, and Erosa ended up scoring two takedowns of his own before ultimately sinking in that D'arce. Even back in TKO, his fellow Canadian prospect TJ Laramie took him down and held him down for five rounds in a title fight. Ilia's base is in Greco-Roman wrestling and he's shown a solid wrestling game in several of his fights (he actually started out in MMA as a primary offensive grappler, not a powerhouse boxer like he is now). And with his BJJ Black Belt and huge arsenal of submissions, Charles would have a lot to worry about other than just getting laid on. Not to mention that I fully expect Topuria to have done a lot of grappling for this camp in expectation of fighting a guy like Evloev (who, by the way, has an underrated rangy technical kickboxing game, which sort of plays into fighting a guy like Charles).

Ilia would be the rightful favorite here and I won't be surprised if/when he finishes Jourdain, but I still respect the hell out of Charles for stepping in. Given the performance he put on against Ewell and him saving this fight when others wouldn't, I hope the UFC does this man a solid and keeps him around without counting the loss against him -- assuming, of course, that he doesn't pull the upset. Have they extended his contract yet?
 
<{JustBleed}>
Jourdain just sign a new contract few day ago!
Jourdain you fucking mad lad. Total respect to this man. Kill or be killed style in the cage, never in a boring fight, and now he steps in to save this fight against one of the scariest prospects at 145 just a few weeks after his last fight.

I feel like it should be competitive on the feet, but I'm not sure how much it will be in practice. Rojo was getting the better of Jourdain on short notice until he gassed late. Went to war with Culibao for a Draw. Hell, even Erosa was outstriking him at points in their fight before he tapped Charles. Don't get me wrong, Charles is a very slick and dangerous striker who uses more tools than Ilia does and he looked great against Ewell (a primary boxer like Topuria)... but there's levels to this, to sound a bit trite about it.

That being said, if Topuria does find that Charles's striking game is giving him a look he doesn't much care for (whether due to the low kicks or what have you), he can always just lean into his offensive grappling. It's a historical weakness of Jourdain. Fili outwrestled him to eke out the Decision over him, Desmond Green did the same, and Erosa ended up scoring two takedowns of his own before ultimately sinking in that D'arce. Even back in TKO, his fellow Canadian prospect TJ Laramie took him down and held him down for five rounds in a title fight. Ilia's base is in Greco-Roman wrestling and he's shown a solid wrestling game in several of his fights (he actually started out in MMA as a primary offensive grappler, not a powerhouse boxer like he is now). And with his BJJ Black Belt and huge arsenal of submissions, Charles would have a lot to worry about other than just getting laid on. Not to mention that I fully expect Topuria to have done a lot of grappling for this camp in expectation of fighting a guy like Evloev (who, by the way, has an underrated rangy technical kickboxing game, which sort of plays into fighting a guy like Charles).

Ilia would be the rightful favorite here and I won't be surprised if/when he finishes Jourdain, but I still respect the hell out of Charles for stepping in. Given the performance he put on against Ewell and him saving this fight when others wouldn't, I hope the UFC does this man a solid and keeps him around without counting the loss against him -- assuming, of course, that he doesn't pull the upset. Have they extended his contract yet?
 
Wow. Props to both, especially Jourdain. The UFC better give Jourdain some slack for taking this fight if he loses. Good alternate, honestly.
 
<{JustBleed}>

Jourdain you fucking mad lad. Total respect to this man. Kill or be killed style in the cage, never in a boring fight, and now he steps in to save this fight against one of the scariest prospects at 145 just a few weeks after his last fight.

I feel like it should be competitive on the feet, but I'm not sure how much it will be in practice. Rojo was getting the better of Jourdain on short notice until he gassed late. Went to war with Culibao for a Draw. Hell, even Erosa was outstriking him at points in their fight before he tapped Charles. Don't get me wrong, Charles is a very slick and dangerous striker who uses more tools than Ilia does and he looked great against Ewell (a primary boxer like Topuria)... but there's levels to this, to sound a bit trite about it.

That being said, if Topuria does find that Charles's striking game is giving him a look he doesn't much care for (whether due to the low kicks or what have you), he can always just lean into his offensive grappling. It's a historical weakness of Jourdain. Fili outwrestled him to eke out the Decision over him, Desmond Green did the same, and Erosa ended up scoring two takedowns of his own before ultimately sinking in that D'arce. Even back in TKO, his fellow Canadian prospect TJ Laramie took him down and held him down for five rounds in a title fight. Ilia's base is in Greco-Roman wrestling and he's shown a solid wrestling game in several of his fights (he actually started out in MMA as a primary offensive grappler, not a powerhouse boxer like he is now). And with his BJJ Black Belt and huge arsenal of submissions, Charles would have a lot to worry about other than just getting laid on. Not to mention that I fully expect Topuria to have done a lot of grappling for this camp in expectation of fighting a guy like Evloev (who, by the way, has an underrated rangy technical kickboxing game, which sort of plays into fighting a guy like Charles).

Ilia would be the rightful favorite here and I won't be surprised if/when he finishes Jourdain, but I still respect the hell out of Charles for stepping in. Given the performance he put on against Ewell and him saving this fight when others wouldn't, I hope the UFC does this man a solid and keeps him around without counting the loss against him -- assuming, of course, that he doesn't pull the upset. Have they extended his contract yet?

Jourdain is very inconsistent. One day he can look like a world beater, the next he looks like just another prelims guy. My brother is big into MMA betting and I always tell him never to bet on Jourdain because of how hot and cold he is. That said, he's always exciting either way and I'll probably root for him here because he seems like a cooler dude than ilia.
 
“Air” Jourdain is a bad motherfucker, and my favourite Canadian fighter rn. That said, Topuria is no fucking joke, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a finish from either fighter.
 
Jourdain is very inconsistent. One day he can look like a world beater, the next he looks like just another prelims guy. My brother is big into MMA betting and I always tell him never to bet on Jourdain because of how hot and cold he is. That said, he's always exciting either way and I'll probably root for him here because he seems like a cooler dude than ilia.

Can't really disagree with your take. His striking is obviously his best feature and indeed slick, but he's had a couple of iffy performances even on that front. His defensive grappling has always been a pitfall.

I agree that at least by initial appearances he does seem a bit more chill than Ilia (except when he's in the cage lmao). I haven't seen enough of Topuria to say he's a prick or anything, but he does come off at a bit brusque or arrogant in some interviews and whatnot. Just typical alpha male shit which is to be expected -- he's a cage-fighter who routinely backs that attitude up -- but yeah. I'll still be rooting for Ilia, as I've been on his train ever since before made his UFC debut and I think he has a tremendous ceiling, but if anyone upsets Ilia I guess I wouldn't hate if it was Jourdain.
 
Can't really disagree with your take. His striking is obviously his best feature and indeed slick, but he's had a couple of iffy performances even on that front. His defensive grappling has always been a pitfall.

I agree that at least by initial appearances he does seem a bit more chill than Ilia (except when he's in the cage lmao). I haven't seen enough of Topuria to say he's a prick or anything, but he does come off at a bit brusque or arrogant in some interviews and whatnot. Just typical alpha male shit which is to be expected -- he's a cage-fighter who routinely backs that attitude up -- but yeah. I'll still be rooting for Ilia, as I've been on his train ever since before made his UFC debut and I think he has a tremendous ceiling, but if anyone upsets Ilia I guess I wouldn't hate if it was Jourdain.

Yeah, I don't know the guy personally. I just go off the general vibe I get. I fully expect topuria to win, but won't be surprised if Jourdain can pull a rabit out of his ass.
 
Jourdain is very inconsistent. One day he can look like a world beater, the next he looks like just another prelims guy. My brother is big into MMA betting and I always tell him never to bet on Jourdain because of how hot and cold he is. That said, he's always exciting either way and I'll probably root for him here because he seems like a cooler dude than ilia.

Jourdain is the worst to bet on or against.

Had Choi to beat him, and then he comes back in round 2 and KOs Choi.

Had him to finish that short notice Cuilbao guy, and Jourdain nearly gets KOd but then later puts him in a triangle late and couldn't finish him somehow.

Had him to beat Erosa, and he lost.

Had ITD in the fight against Ewell and Jourdain basically does everything but get a finish.

I love watching him fight, but this Canadian bastard has lost me close to 7k all up now.
 
Jourdain is a beast and I hope he can crack the top 15 one day, but Topuria will be a top 10 fighter for a long time.
 
I still say Ilia wins. But damned awesome of Charles to step up. This will be a banger.
 
Jourdain is the worst to bet on or against.

Had Choi to beat him, and then he comes back in round 2 and KOs Choi.

Had him to finish that short notice Cuilbao guy, and Jourdain nearly gets KOd but then later puts him in a triangle late and couldn't finish him somehow.

Had him to beat Erosa, and he lost.

Had ITD in the fight against Ewell and Jourdain basically does everything but get a finish.

I love watching him fight, but this Canadian bastard has lost me close to 7k all up now.
So...that means that he will ko Topuria?

I'll take that
 
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