Ilia will not keep it striking with Max

[TheMMAnalyst]

Top's legs would be fucked if he did not finished Volk that early. And the Volk he fought was veeeeeeeery gun shy.

Ummm Ilia's kicks were way more powerful and damaging than Volk's, he was already hurting the calf and starting to limit Volk's movement.

Volk is great at using kicks as point-fighting tools but he rarely sits down on them, it's much more to annoy the opponent and give them different looks then just downright chop them down, though if the fight goes long enough (i.e. Max 1) they can start doing significant damage late in the fight.

 

[Rubios]

Ummm Ilia's kicks were way more powerful and damaging than Volk's, he was already hurting the calf and starting to limit Volk's movement.

Volk is great at using kicks as point-fighting tools but he rarely sits down on them, it's much more to annoy the opponent and give them different looks then just downright chop them down, though if the fight goes long enough (i.e. Max 1) they can start doing significant damage late in the fight.

Yes, Ilia kicks HARD because he has power and speed. But he hardly kicks, it's common knowledge that his team lacks in that departament.

I will move on and accept he is a better boxer than Max or even the best boxer at FW, for the sake of the thread. I think otherwise.

But do you guys really believe he's a better STRIKER than Volk (pre-Islam #2) and Max???

Do you think Ilia would stand a chance moving up against DP, JG or MFing Islam?

Also, him being faster than Volk that fought Max #3? For real?

 

[Goutfather]

That fairly bad TD stats surprise me.

Ilia's lifetime background is Greco and BJJ. I believe his best weapon is still the ground, and by far.
But given his Greco background and his strenght and conditioning, I expected a much higher TD%

He improved his boxing vastly because:

#1 He enjoys boxing the most and quickly noticed he's very talented.

#2 He knew a stand up, KO artist approach, would help him getting the spotlight in the UFC.

Now he's the champ, I guess he will fight smart to win.
And trading with Max is not very clever.

at this point i need to see him use those tools if i’m gonna assume he’s adapted them into his arsenal. there are plenty examples of highly accomplished wrestlers and grapplers who end up never using those skills in mma. d1 gaethje is a great example of that.

 

[Jinx_AA]

This fight will be a standup fight

Either topuria is the baddest mofo around and drops max

Or max shows he’s the superiour striker and minute winner …

Very interested in seeing it play out … love max more - but fan of both - topuria is under appreciated …

 

[prime_lobov]

Max is going to be KO’d. Why would Topuria need to grapple?