Diego Lopes Disputes Notion That Ilia Topuria Lacked Challenges at Featherweight

[HHJ]

I'm really sick of guys going up in weight before clearing out their divisions.

But why?

Why does he HAVE to do that?

 

[HHJ]

Nuked the two best guys, everyone else would be a downgrade.

yup

 

[Morning Star]

Really doesn't matter much since he dropped the title. 155 is a bigger challenge anyway.

 

[nostradumbass]

Well yeah, obviously it wasn't lack of challenges any more than Leon Scott was out of challenges at WW after also beating old guys at the back end of their careers, but he doesn't want to cut the weight anymore and gave up the title, so you can't force the guy to stay in the division.

 

[TITS]

Yeah too bad we won't get to see Ilia knock this guy's mullet head into the back row. Hopefully Volk will get the job done.

 

[Poirierfan]

I'm really sick of guys going up in weight before clearing out their divisions.
Topuria should have moved up only if he had beaten Lopes & Movsar.

Also, if anything Islam should be challenging up at this point, especially with Arman not getting an immediate title shot.

If it was too hard for Ilia to make weight, then It was too hard. I'll take him at his word for now.

 

[bjjwar]

I'm really sick of guys going up in weight before clearing out their divisions.
Topuria should have moved up only if he had beaten Lopes & Movsar.

Also, if anything Islam should be challenging up at this point, especially with Arman not getting an immediate title shot.

I mostly agree with you in other situations, but Ilia was undefeated and dismantled the 2 best FW’s in the division. From that point on he could only have fought guys that are « arguably » worse and will have done nothing for his legacy. Maybe Movsar or Lopez will become greats in the future, but as of right now, neither one of them has built even close to any legacy as Volk or Max and would not be seen as some crazy good wins, compared to Islam.

 

[JustBleed69]

I mostly agree with you in other situations, but Ilia was undefeated and dismantled the 2 best FW’s in the division. From that point on he could only have fought guys that are « arguably » worse and will have done nothing for his legacy. Maybe Movsar or Lopez will become greats in the future, but as of right now, neither one of them has built even close to any legacy as Volk or Max and would not be seen as some crazy good wins, compared to Islam.

He's got bigger fights to make at 155 for sure, it's just frustrating because now he has no arguments to claim he's the best FW of all time at all. You gotta rack up title defenses to claim that kinda thing to build a legacy and defeat the upcoming number one contenders & he has totally removed himself from that equation.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

But why?

Why does he HAVE to do that?

Indeed, if they vacate the belt I'v no issue with it.

As for the reasons I suspect its that LW has the bigger money fights and from what Topuria has said in the past he wants to retire fairly early, I'd guess his ideal career may have big fights for 3-4 years at LW then retire.

 

[JustBleed69]

If it was too hard for Ilia to make weight, then It was too hard. I'll take him at his word for now.

That's true, I just find it hard to believe the cut was all that hard.
He's not a very big Featherweight at all and has never looked that bad at the weigh ins.
I tend to believe he just wants bigger name fights.

 

[Poirierfan]

That's true, I just find it hard to believe the cut was all that hard.
He's not a very big Featherweight at all and has never looked that bad at the weigh ins.
I tend to believe he just wants bigger name fights.

Yeah, he sure is a small ass little FW,, weird.

 

[mkess101]

I agree. There was 2 legitimate challengers waiting and he bailed.

Meh, there will always be "legit challengers". He stays and beats those two and maybe in that time Zalal wins 2-3 more and looks impressive and then if Ilia move up he's ducking him.

As long as guys aren't trying to be in 2 weight classes at once, nobody should complain.

 

[Tweak896]

Idk. it was almost universally agreed how Volk and Max were the 2 highest level fighters in all the weightclasses really. They cleared out the FW division so long, they basically only fought each other. Topuria KO'd both back to back. It's hard to think anyone would give Topuria trouble on the feet after that slaughter.

Maybe Evoloev would test his grappling, but Topuria realizes that juice isn't worth the squeeze and it would sell like shit. LW is full of mostly old strikers with names. It makes sense career wise. He's going to have to test his grappling against Islam, which is a bigger test than anything at FW.

 

[Blastbeat]

Yeah I wish Ilia hung around featherweight for a bit longer. He has some great wins, but it would've been nice to see if he could've broke Volk's defense record. I would've liked to see him vs Diego, Movsar and Arnold Allen.
But at least he gave the belt up and isn't holding up the division.

 

[KO Shotz]

All the talk about him vs Islam is what made him leave 145 & move up to 155 without a doubt. Yes, Ilia definitely still had some work to do in the FW division with Lopes & Evloev, but everyone started talking about Ilia vs Islam, & that's a massive fight compared to Ilia vs Lopes or Evloev. I'm sure Ilia likes the idea of challenging another champion in a division where he believes he can compete at, but I'm sure the UFC played a role in it as well with seeing dollar signs in Ilia leaving 145 & fighting at 155.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

I might be in the minority, but I always felt more intrigued by a champion staying in his division to see how long he or she can hold the belt for. I know sometimes it can make the division feel dull, but when people move weight classes, they're never the same when they come back.

Me too. I like dominant champs.

But I respect Topuria for vacating the belt. He wants to go LW to prove himself even more.

I do not like champions who want to hold entire divisions like Colon did.

 

[yossarian1979]

Me too. I like dominant champs.

But I respect Topuria for vacating the belt. He wants to go LW to prove himself even more.

I do not like champions who want to hold entire divisions like Colon did.

Agreed, I felt years ago when this started, that it's not easy, but as champ of another weight class getting to jump the line, isn't as difficult as fighting different styles of fighters through that weight class.
I also believed that when champs did do that and would lose, they weren't the same fighter anymore and appeared to lose more often.

 

[BangBang]

I'm really sick of guys going up in weight before clearing out their divisions.
Topuria should have moved up only if he had beaten Lopes & Movsar.

Also, if anything Islam should be challenging up at this point, especially with Arman not getting an immediate title shot.

And Arnold Allen.

 

[deanambrose]

And Diego is entirely right.

Topuria fought 4 notable names at Featherweight - Mitchell who is good fighter but we now know not that good. Emmett who is very good and still can bang but he is A level at best if we are generous (same tier as Yair and Ortega - so notch below elite) then past-prime Volk who is only name value at this point (until proven otherwise with his next fight but Islam KO changed trajectory of his carreer - during Ilia fight he did jack shit so it makes my point even better) and still in prime Max which is his biggest win. This isn't cleaning of division while you still have 2 great fighters whose potential is unknown - Evloev and Lopes can be even greater than we imagine but we don't know that yet and few rising stars like Jean Silva. If Ilia wanted great legacy he could take on them and then others to attempt to break defense record while being undefeated if he could. If he really can't make weight anymore then OK I get it but don't make false claims that you did everything there was to do. It is just speedrunning at this point.

 

[bjjwar]

He's got bigger fights to make at 155 for sure, it's just frustrating because now he has no arguments to claim he's the best FW of all time at all. You gotta rack up title defenses to claim that kinda thing to build a legacy and defeat the upcoming number one contenders & he has totally removed himself from that equation.

You’re right about FW, but it would have taken him 4-5 yrs to even be in the convo with Volk, Aldo etc. due to the number of yrs he’d have to stay at the top as a champ. If he manages somehow to beat Islam, it will have a bigger impact imo on his legacy. But thats a big if considering how tiny he is.