Media Ilia Topuria s**** at kicking

[jeff7b9]

Which makes me think a tall, rangy fighter with good striking and a wrestling/TD threat would be his biggest threat. Paddy is the closest thing to that in the current LW scene. I know he's hittable but is getting better every fight. At WW, there are quite a few guys who would be very tough opponents for him IMO.

Yeah, so my first question would be who has the skill set to execute this?

If I were trying to build a fighter to beat Ilia, I would want "up the middle" weapons.

Jab
1-2
Teap
Knee

Ilia thrives on timing his entry on hooks and kicks. A roundhouse is a window of time in which he can close distance to his range. This is going to apply to most kicks. And there are no karate style guys in these weight classes, no one I can think of with the Wonderboy, Machida, type of no set up minimal tell, rapid fire kicks.

No one at LW really stands out to me as having fast linear striking. JDM does at WW, Ian Garry is decent in that regard.

Ilias style really matches up well with the aging and somewhat sloppy athletes at the top of LW.

Paddy I really don't think has the speed. He has improved his striking but speed is mostly God given, a fighter can minimize wasted motion but if you aren't born with those fast twitch muscles and the explosive and quick response reflexes, you can't do a tremendous amount to change that.

Also Paddy seems to think he can eat Ilias shots, I know he will probably better than anyone at LW, not choose or accept to stand with Ilia, but if he is forced to strike I think that goes very badly for him.

Paddy would have to:

Safely get and KEEP Ilia down
And
Do so while maintaining dominant position.

Ilia is a sneaky Lil bugger.
The way he hIt that reversal on Charles was SLICK.

_________

Islam and JDM I could see doing well vs Ilia.

Both have good clean straight punches and decent footwork.
(JDM exceptionally so)

Islam likely has the superior grappling and his size would edge it even if the skills are relatively equal.

___________

With the way Ilia walked thru Charles I don't see a huge threat from the regular suspects in the LW top 5

Armen, if he could keep Ilia down and maintain bully status and top position is a threat. That's the biggest threat I see at LW. But he does not strike me as clean quick and efficient striking, kind of meathead-ish, not really snappy and quick.

 

[RockyLockridge]

He has pretty great calf kicks actually. Who cares if he doesn't throw head or body kicks, he's way more than good enough with the hands to not need that shit.

Heres the thing, Most people Illa fights are going to have a reach advantage. Kicks leave you open defensively to counters and people with longer reach can counter illas kicks with punches because of his limited range. It makes more sense Illa stay defensively tight with hands uphigh as he moves in

 

[RockyLockridge]

Jab
1-2
Teap
Knee

IT's funny @rear naked ankle pick made a thread last week asking how to beat him, And I said range range range. Seems you agree too. But basically, I said you want "sean strickland him" and i feel like that's what this post is.

 

[burningspear]

Who gives a fuck? When he knocks people out they don't fucking move.

yeah he can kick them when theyre slumped on the mat lol

 

[taugrim]

He has pretty great calf kicks actually. Who cares if he doesn't throw head or body kicks, he's way more than good enough with the hands to not need that shit.

Yea calf kicks are so damaging as well, and they're relatively safe (as long as they aren't checked).

It complements Ilia's hands well. He can damage the legs to limit their movement, which makes it easier for him to land his head shots.

 

[Legendary]

You can't be elite at EVERYTHING, plus he is short with tiny legs. The best kickers tend to be longer in height and reach. His natural talents plus his stature plays a huge role.

 

[TheTickG]

As per Ilia Topuria



It does make me wonder. He’s been coming up as more of a BJJ/Wrester (while obviously also training boxing). With that as his base, now he’s knocking spicily seasoned strikers the fuck out.

The head kick in particular is a finishing weapon Ilia chooses to ommit. Choices like these can have consequences. It could provide something to exploit by fighters that are of a high enough level (whom are few these days). It could also mean Ilia gets to spend more time on perfecting his fighting style, therefore his choice being a net positive.

But let’s say it’s something he would like to incorporate in his game and you’re his striking coach. What do you tell him?

For head kicks?

As his striking coach I would tell him that regardless of how good he is, first, he needs to stop being a midget.

 

[mkt]

Ilias style really matches up well with the aging and somewhat sloppy athletes at the top of LW.

Good points, especially the part I quoted. Besides JDM and Islam, I can see Garry, Shavkat and Brady being tough match-ups, with their size advantage, grappling and striking that may be good enough to keep Ilia at range. Garry and Shavkat would be similar tests. Brady is a different beast who is starting to look better in every fight. All would probably try to get Ilia on his back or hold him against the cage most of the time. Striking would be mostly to set up TDs.

Younger versions of Belal and Usman could be very tough tests, but I'm not sure now that they're both around 37. They (especially Usman) would have to keep Ilia grounded almost the entire fight.

As a wild card, MVP would be very interesting, but I don't think that fight would ever happen. He's like 38 but hasn't shown much of a drop in speed/reflexes yet. It will happen, though. I wonder if Ilia would resort to wrestling if that fight happened.

 

[KO Shotz]

The obvious way to have a chance against Ilia is to keep distance, safely get him down, & keep him down while not getting caught in any submission while trying to find a way for a finish.

But at some point while striking there's gonna be exchanges where the distance will be closed. Same as going for a TD & taking it to the ground. At some point someone will be open & in close trying for a TD & susceptible to have something, that being a limb or a neck caught on the ground, or having a position switched on them like Ilia did with Oliveria.

The real questions are who has the chin to take Ilia on standing? Who has the wits on the ground vs Ilia? Who has the cardio to go into deep waters against Ilia if it's a gruesome fight?

 

[xhaydenx]

He's got really good leg kicks at least.

 

[Marko Polo]

He chewed up Max's leg before the KO. He's good at chopping on the calves of fighters.

Kicking is not his main forte, but if you watch his fights he uses them well enough to compliment his boxing.

Volk as well

 

[ElLunico]

He doesn't need to. His stance, style and height also doesnt make it practical to throw body/head kicks.

 

[Frode Falch]

Silly thread imo

He mostly fight against fighters taller then him. Why would he go for head kicks? And body kicks dont really make much sense either

Lowkick suit his style of fighting... And he have already proven to have a very solid lowkick

Also: even for a young sport as MMA, there have already been many great striking based mma fighters who mostly only punches..

Rampage, bj penn, gomi, Chuck Liddell later part of his prime, Nick Diaz, Shane Carwin, ect

 

[wolffanghameha]

You just need a relatively narrow set of tools and to learn to use them in lots of situations. Like those guys who throw kicks usually don't have the boxing variety or intricacy (had to look up the noun of intricate. Forgetting words) of Ilia.

The masters can use very few techniques but know how to set them up, how to time them, manage distance, cut the cage off.

Maybe later in his career he'll find some situation to use a body or head kick. Some very specific situation. Like how Max rarely uses body kicks, but when he does he does it at a great time. Idk, maybe it'll be tacked onto a boxing combo.

 

[Söze Aldo]

He can take head kicks, is the main thing.

 

[jeff7b9]

IT's funny @rear naked ankle pick made a thread last week asking how to beat him, And I said range range range. Seems you agree too. But basically, I said you want "sean strickland him" and i feel like that's what this post is.

"Strickland him' is a good approach.

If someone bigger than Ilia could make Ilia fight off his back foot I think that could make him a lot less dangerous.

Walk him down (without walking into a knuckle sandwhich).

You'd have to be able to keep pressure on him while staying defensively responsible, which is exactly how Sean fights and how he beat Izzy.

I can't think of any lightweights who fight like that though.

 

[richardjohnson]

would be funny if he head kick KO'd his next opponent

 

[JBJ was here]

would be funny if he head kick KO'd his next opponent

If Topuria were to soccer kick Paddy into the nightmare realm when Paddy puts a hand down on the mat (legal under the updated unified rules), would that count?

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

I've been thinking about this. I feel like someone with good MT or KB could exploit his defence of leg kicks, body kicks head kicks.

Maybe he does train defense of those but I haven't seen much that says he does.

That fighter would also have to have good boxing defense and tdd

If only someone had done that in the past, eh?

In all seriousness, Ilia's a gangster for weathering that particular storm. You can't really get hit any harder than that and he never went out, despite being firmly entrenched in the hurt locker.

 

[Koro_11]

lol the Ilia defense force is hilarious. Its just an observation someone made put your swords away fucking dorks.

How many times are you gonna respond to this thread crying about people liking Ilia?