Just how good... is Ilia Topuria?

[Rampage_Jackson]

He's still gay and lame and copied conor's tattoos like a little fanboy bitch

 

[Squarechoke]

Ilia is very good, but overall not as good as Poatan, and I don't care what the contrived PfP rankings say.
Poatan's strength of scheduled fights is greater. He has beaten 6 UFC champions as opposed to Ilia's 3.

Volk, Max and Izzy are the only ones that are among the all time greats (in the wider perspective) in their resumes, so Ilia has more of those. LHW has a few former champs that only became that because the best left the division. Ilia is also a better at knocking people out cold, despite being in a much lower weight class, and he's a wrestler at his base so he has better grappling. He hasn't lost either. He deserves to be #1 right now. Islam is the one that is his biggest P4P rival right now.

 

[World eater]

He never fights. Guys like Ilia, Islam, Khamzat…. They are amazing fighters, but fighting so rarely will always leave a “what if” feeling about their career. Can you imagine those guys fighting on an Izzy or Poatan schedule? That is my only objection. Their skill levels are obviously top shelf.

 

[UppercutFromHades]

Ilia is a superior talent.

 

[SuperAlly]

Not as good as Islam

 

[Mask Of Winters]

The Temple Of Topuria will punish OP for his heresy soon enough. He will be treated like someone who fails a purity test on Bluesky. It won't be pretty.

 

[SeanWRT]

Not sold yet, I need to see him against Tsarukyan/Islam.

If Topuria KO/TKO both back to back, he’d be the MMA goat. There would be no better resume from anyone else, not even a close 2nd.

 

[pamirec]

I mentioned in another thread how Ilia
Knocks some luck into his opponents. Last three opponents doing really good. Ilia is surely one of the best the sport has ever seen.

 

[Pingu]

He's a bad man!

 

[p4pfighters]

He is a generic wrestleboxer with less kicks than Chuck Liddell ( the OG wrestleboxer), of course he is very good at it and he managed to have success in his fighting career.

 

[Morris88]

Topturo did OK in the UFC

 

[Chagaev]

He's quite good, but the comparisons and MMATH never included Gamrot ffs.

 

[TheGreenMachine]

I knew he would be 145 champion pretty early on. I kind of doubt he reigns over 155 for that long though, mostly because of his build. Just like Conor, he's good enough to beat people at 155 in similar stature, but his height and weight may limit his potential against the much bigger 155ers. I don't think KOing an old Oliveira is a good indicator of longevity at 155. I think Jai Herbert rocked him in his first UFC fight at 155 before Topuria knocked him out. Islam had the perfect build for 155 (5'10"), which is also why I think he beats Ilia.

But if there's one fighter besides Poatan who could win a title in a 3rd division, its Topuria. He has the skillset, he's just lacking a bit in build.

 

[markg171]

he’s really good, i think it’s time people stop using the out of prime excuses for fighters. we are seeing it in real time that fighters are still great at later ages. blame the PrideFC fan girls.

PrideFc fans refuse to ever admit and attribute to their losses just how dumb and reckless their fighters fought. Which has nothing to do with prime. It's in fact even worse to be such a veteran making such dumb mistakes instead of doing anything useful with all that experience.

The prime excuse is also particularly annoying given PEDs were encouraged and openly used. You don't get to simultaneously say they were shop worn AND were blasting PEDs that are explicitly helpful for recovery that whole run. That doesn't compute. They were fighting more because they could recover more.

We're seeing more fighters still compete well at older ages in the UFC because they're fighting with technique and evolving to their older selves to make new styles work. I'm not necessarily saying Charles fits the latter (I was getting a little worried how recklessly he was walking down Gamrot like he's still 22), but they have fundamentals and experience actually working for them instead of just throwing it out the window. Most of them have realized they need to fight smarter if they want to succeed with their dimished speed and reflexes. They've watched too many past fighters refuse to do that and get KO'd instead.

Pride fans will say someone like Big Nog got KO'd by Cain because he was out of his prime instead of asking what the fuck Big Nog was doing standing with Cain in the first place. "NoG wAsN't KnOwN fOr HiS tAkEdOwNs." Well gee fucking wiz, do you ever think he should've worked on that in his 15 years instead of always planning to get to the ground by getting knocked down?

 

[Usssssyyyy]

Topuria is a generational prospect who’s delivered.

I would only use that term for guys like Jones, Khamzat and prime Shogun.

Khabib & Islam don’t make the cut?

 

[burningspear]

What can you say? flawless career, until someone can compete with what he's offering, objectively the best.

 

[Alpha_T83]

I'd wager to say he is pretty good.

Arguably the best, currently, even.

Maybe even championship level, I dare say.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

I'm not sure there is a better 3 fight win-streak in MMA history, especially given what the 3 did right after the loss to Ilia. Volk beat Lopes clean, 49-46; Max beat Dustin clean, also 49-46; Charles just dominated and became the first fighter to stop Gamrot.

Yes Ilia ko’d three GREAT fighters across two weight classes but he’s not a chin strap

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Not sold yet, I need to see him against Tsarukyan/Islam.

AV checks

 

[Yabadabaev]

AV checks

neckbeards got you triggered?