Ilia Toupuria = Best MMA Boxing Ever

[Edward Henry Greb]

Been a boxing fan since I was 12, beginning in the mid-70s, and especially maturing into the mid-and-late 80s.

Cut my teeth watching some legit all-time greats in their prime (Ali, Arguello, Chavez, Duran, W. Gomez, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Nelson, Pintor, Prior, Sanchez, Zarate, etc.)

That said, I know what good boxers look like, and I think Ilia Topuria has the cleanest, most technical, most powerful boxing I've ever seen in the UFC (and I've been watching since UFC I).
(Yeah, I'm a Pereira fan, but he's a kickboxer, and although he has skills to suit his body type, I don't think he is is clean and dynamic as Topuria.)

Alex is more fluid and laconic, using his extreme reach and leverage to his advantage, with an abundance of experience and timing.

Topuria is tighter, more perfect, and higher-volume in his approach. Which is crazy, because Alex has way more experience.

The jury is still out on Topuria's chin, but his last two fights have shown he is absolutely elite — making both Volkanovski and Holloway look like fragile, sitting ducks, just waiting to get KO'd.

Which is exactly what happened in both fights.

 

[2004 account]

Dude u got poatan as your av and u think ilia is better?

 

[tritestill]

Good thread, no Poatan bias, instead you use him to say why you prefer thinking Ilia is better in that department.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Lol at TS out here pretending he's 60.



At least give some highlights of this can to try and support this ludicrous and incorrect statement.

 

[OverhandLoop]

He's certainly a crisp technician out there.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

MMA striking doesn't necessarily have to be a great fundamental boxer. Just look at the likes of Fedor, he strikes very unusual style and it works for him. Especially in his long win streak.

I don't buy top boxing skills is the be all or end all for great striking in MMA.

It's a different animal altogether especially when you use kicking in your arsenal.

 

[Edward Henry Greb]

Lol at TS out here pretending he's 60.



At least give some highlights of this can to try and support this ludicrous and incorrect statement.

I turned 60 on Saturday, genius.

 

[Daniel Henry]

There's a guy named Anderson Silva that from what I remember was a pretty remarkable striker. But wat do i kno

 

[Gang Sign Luke]

Anderson

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

I turned 60 on Saturday, genius.

So did Max

 

[MarioLemieux]

Poatan currently c'mon dude a multiple weight class Glory champ.

One of the reasons Illia's striking looks so good is because he can march guys down because of his grappling but if you take that away nobody equals Alex in the striking department.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Let's simmer down. While his MMA boxing is very good, but I'm not sold on his striking being the best ever.

 

[Roids]

You are suffering from recency bias. Conor and Silva were better, and I don't see his striking standing out as better among many others.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Been a boxing fan since I was 12, beginning in the mid-70s, and especially maturing into the mid-and-late 80s.

Cut my teeth watching some legit all-time greats in their prime (Ali, Arguello, Chavez, Duran, W. Gomez, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Nelson, Pintor, Prior, Sanchez, Zarate, etc.)

That said, I know what good boxers look like, and I think Ilia Topuria has the cleanest, most technical, most powerful boxing I've ever seen in the UFC (and I've been watching since UFC I).
(Yeah, I'm a Pereira fan, but he's a kickboxer, and although he has skills to suit his body type, I don't think he is is clean and dynamic as Topuria.)

Alex is more fluid and laconic, using his extreme reach and leverage to his advantage, with an abundance of experience and timing.

Topuria is tighter, more perfect, and higher-volume in his approach. Which is crazy, because Alex has way more experience.

The jury is still out on Topuria's chin, but his last two fights have shown he is absolutely elite — making both Volkanovski and Holloway look like fragile, sitting ducks, just waiting to get KO'd.

Which is exactly what happened in both fights.

If you used muliticolored text I might have believed you.

Anyways happy birthday for Saturday big guy. Keep livin the good life!

 

[Gamer007]

That is a crazy statement considering he was outlanded in every single round in both the Volk and Max fights aside from round 3 against Max.

He's a great striker, but he's not particularly difficult to find or land on. Much like Max, his style forces him to exchange blow for blow. Max showed you can stab him up the middle, trade low kicks successfully, and jab him up even with Max's 69" reach.

Right now he's just a little bit younger, more powerful, and harder to prepare for then his opponents. But once he runs into someone who can present issues at all three levels (low, middle, high), then we will find out if his grappling is anywhere close to what some seem to believe. Really entertaining fighter, but that striking style doesn't last long once you've had a few broken noses and bad cuts.


Jai herbet outlanded Ilia
Youssef Zalal outlanded Ilia
Max outlanded Ilia
Volk outlanded Ilia
Bryce Mitchell was within 7 strikes
Even Ryan Hall was within 5 strikes

Despite his impressive defensive techniques, sharp reflexes, and good eyes, he's still taking too many hits, the writing is on the wall. The truth is the Volk fight should've never happened, he had been brutally KO'd by Islam FOUR months before. Meaning he was likely sparing in training camp just a couple months after being concussed. Max was an underdog against Ilia, it wasn't even a big surprise to see Ilia get the finish. Max just hasn't developed his kickboxing to the level some of us had hoped years ago, he was going to try and mainly outbox Ilia while not having the reach, speed, or power to do so.

Ilia's best performance to date was the Josh Emmett fight, by far. But how many times will he have an opponent like Josh who doesn't shoot, was much older, and didn't have the reach or kicking game to keep him honest?

 

[MEAN357]

Been a boxing fan since I was 12, beginning in the mid-70s, and especially maturing into the mid-and-late 80s.

Cut my teeth watching some legit all-time greats in their prime (Ali, Arguello, Chavez, Duran, W. Gomez, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Nelson, Pintor, Prior, Sanchez, Zarate, etc.)

That said, I know what good boxers look like, and I think Ilia Topuria has the cleanest, most technical, most powerful boxing I've ever seen in the UFC (and I've been watching since UFC I).
(Yeah, I'm a Pereira fan, but he's a kickboxer, and although he has skills to suit his body type, I don't think he is is clean and dynamic as Topuria.)

Alex is more fluid and laconic, using his extreme reach and leverage to his advantage, with an abundance of experience and timing.

Topuria is tighter, more perfect, and higher-volume in his approach. Which is crazy, because Alex has way more experience.

The jury is still out on Topuria's chin, but his last two fights have shown he is absolutely elite — making both Volkanovski and Holloway look like fragile, sitting ducks, just waiting to get KO'd.

Which is exactly what happened in both fights.

His boxing is great like truly good but calling him the best striker in MMA is crazy.

Technically the best boxer in MMA history was probably James Tony lol

Rodtang has had a few MMA fights too, no?

Also it's disingenuous to say Max was a sitting duck he mightve been up on the cards and sure as fuck was landing on Topuria

 

[Khaosan]

 

[Sweater of AV]

I turned 60 on Saturday, genius.

Fixed:

I turned 6 on Saturday, genius.

 

[Portland8242]

Been a boxing fan since I was 12, beginning in the mid-70s, and especially maturing into the mid-and-late 80s.

Cut my teeth watching some legit all-time greats in their prime (Ali, Arguello, Chavez, Duran, W. Gomez, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Nelson, Pintor, Prior, Sanchez, Zarate, etc.)

That said, I know what good boxers look like, and I think Ilia Topuria has the cleanest, most technical, most powerful boxing I've ever seen in the UFC (and I've been watching since UFC I).
(Yeah, I'm a Pereira fan, but he's a kickboxer, and although he has skills to suit his body type, I don't think he is is clean and dynamic as Topuria.)

Alex is more fluid and laconic, using his extreme reach and leverage to his advantage, with an abundance of experience and timing.

Topuria is tighter, more perfect, and higher-volume in his approach. Which is crazy, because Alex has way more experience.

The jury is still out on Topuria's chin, but his last two fights have shown he is absolutely elite — making both Volkanovski and Holloway look like fragile, sitting ducks, just waiting to get KO'd.

Which is exactly what happened in both fights.

It's efficient, simple and straight-forward and yet still dynamic and unpredictable.

Still laugh at people who were saying Volk was "winning" the fight until Topuria KO'd him. Volk was controlling none of the space and Topuria cornered him on the cage several times before he finally cornered him for the kill shot. Some people are vastly uneducated on what "winning" the fight is. Was the same story with Holloway too, even against an iron-chinned opponent he was still confident enough to bide his time and eventually catch Holloway stationary , and finished the job.

 

[J Danger]

James Toney had the best boxing in the UFC.