Diego Lopes is the man to defeat Topuria

[Guy LeDouche]

Diego is a great prospect and challenger.

They panned over to him after the KO and he looked scared shitless.

 

[BigOlJeet]

Islam is gonna be that guy.

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

Lopes ain't gonna do a damn thing. The best striker he's faced was Ige and Ige was winning exchanges. Ortega has always sucked. I dont think anything based on that fight.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

As a Max fan I knew Topuria’s boxing will be too much for him. To fight Topuria, you need to be relentless and fearless to stand and exchange with him. Max wasn’t that in their match.

Diego will be the guy to defeat Ilia by heart

I don't think so, but its a sellable fight.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Bro did you see when they showed him in the crowd
He was all kinds of shook

 

[mister piscadinha]

i love lopes but i fear what illia may do to him

 

[Hezekiah]

Definitely has the size and power to put Topuria away, but he's wild and his chin is often high so I reckon he gets caught at some point.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

He's the person with the best chance, but I also don't see him doing it. I think you have to go after Topuria early which Diego would do.

Again, I wouldn't pick him to do it, but I think Yair would be a threat to him too. Topuria isn't the guy who will get outclassed over 5 rounds, he's the guy who when he does lose he'll get finished early

I would expect Topuria to use his grappling against Yair. If Ilia decided to just stand with Yair, it could go Yair's way. I could see Yair's kicking game giving Ilia trouble. If Ilia mixes in takedowns and grappling, I would expect it to Ilia to win pretty easily.

 

[xhaydenx]

Watch Aljo beat Topuria. 48-47 controversial decision lol Aljo gets dropped round 2 & 4 but takes 1, 3, & 5 with back control.

Bro, if Topuria drops Aljo at all he's not getting back up lol.

 

[xhaydenx]

Diego is the last hope

Looking forward to watching the Topuria haters cling onto Lopes and talk him up like he's the one.

After that they'll move onto Evloev.

 

[Dorkman]

I don't think he is. His striking albeit explosive, is wide and wild. A great straight puncher like Topuria should be able to beat him to the punch fairly routinely. Lopes wrestling likely isn't good enough to fully control where the engagement takes place. And even if he can get top position for a period, with Ilia's strong submission grappling he's going to have a hard time getting a sub before Ilia can find a way back to his feet. I see Ilia mounting damage on Lopes more and more as the fight goes on. With Lopes wide punching mostly missing.

 

[Khaosan]

If he does I’m getting a Lopes haircut.

 

[zumbul]

Lopes no.
Volk can do it if he can fight perfect fight but he is getting old and doubt he can do it for 25 min anymore.
So basically someone with better wrestling than Ilia.
Is there some Nurmagomedov wrestling powerhouse in FW that is good? Maybe Usman N.can do it if he can make weight some day when UFC signs him. Or the fight is LW bc Ilia will move up and usman waits for Islam to retire.

 

[filthybliss]

Ilia just outboxed 2 of the greatest strikers in the history of the division. Diego can't even finish Dan Ige.....

 

[wh4tttt]

In that crowd shot.

Even the back of his mullet was pulling on his brain " Maybe we should chill on the title shot for a min"

 

[Elvis.]

He’s not ready for that guy yet

 

[Noraaq]

Topuria is a generational puncher. We’ve never seen anybody with his combination of natural power + technique in the sport

Ige is a good litmus test for how a fighter would do against Topuria. Ige and Topuria are similar in size, physical qualities, and they employ the same macro strategy. Topuria is just much better than Ige everywhere. If you struggle with Ige, I don’t like your chances against Topuria. After 308, Lerone Murphy has no shot vs Ilia. Same with Lopes after I saw him fight vs Ige.

The person that beats Topuria is someone that won’t trade with him in boxing range. It’s gonna be someone that will grab the wrists, hang on his arms, make him work hard to create space to let his combos fly. Possibly tired him out annd test him in the late rounds. Easier said than done, but Lopes doesn’t have the ability nor the strength to do that.

Allen and Evloev are much more interesting stylistic match ups for Topuria, imo.

 

[r-harper-1]

As a Max fan I knew Topuria’s boxing will be too much for him. To fight Topuria, you need to be relentless and fearless to stand and exchange with him. Max wasn’t that in their match.

Diego will be the guy to defeat Ilia by heart

Highly doubt …. He’ll just get knocked out early if he fights reckless

 

[ColombianFist]

Nah. Lopes isn't the guy. You see the gif after ilia ko max... He knows he's fucked.

 

[Black Blood]

Nah, I don't think so. Fast and powerful enough to require some respect but that's about it.