Watching the Volk vs Topuria fight more critically the 2nd time around

[jimmy dakine]

I admit barely watching this one probably because I was dissatisfied with the outcome initially. I expected much more from Volk so I didn't give Top due credit. I had the impression already that Volk slipped up and got KOd by a glancing shot.

Watching it a second time and paying attention, clearly Volk got his Ass kicked and likely has recurring nightmares of Topuria. I had thought Topuria was lucky to be fighting Volk. But now I think its Volk who's probably more thankful he got to get spanked by an actual genius in the game.

Who do we have to compare Top to? Ive now watched this fight 3 times. I recommend watching just Top the entire fight, preferably save this for last. There is nobody Ive ever seen who moves like Topuria. This guy could easily become a world class boxer.

This whole time I had Volk's striking repertoire at an elite level for the game. But now I see Volk was having fits dealing with Top's movement. The dude was moving around like a fukin black cat. Volk was off balance just about the entire fight. No doubt about it, he secretly is afraid of Topuria. He knows he may not have it in him to deal with this again.

And that was no glancing blow, Holmes got hit by a mallet to the side of the face. A guy with a supposed chin like Volk is seen flying through the air with his eyes shut ded. Volk has nightmares of this guy for certain.

And this is all why Holloway is gnashing at the teeth to get to this guy. The BMF smells blood. Alpha steps to alpha. The fight needs to happen. They both have off the charts fight IQs. Nobody in the UFC moves or has moved like Topuria. You can tell elite level boxers by just observing their feet. Is Top vs Islam even possible?



I officially see what you see, sherbros
We are seeing absolute genius greatness right here. Conor for once is biting his tongue for the most part because even he knows. Top is what Conor wants to be.

the first thing I noticed about Topuria was his balance. In striking, staying balanced as much as is possible is crucial. Topuria doesnt lunge much. The last time I noticed a guy like this was when I 1st saw Jon Jones.

 

[Rum that Chimay-Leffe]

Max vs Topuria is clearly the fight to make if they want Ilia to reach Conor's fame

 

[BlackStrap]

He was moving a lot and peppering Illia with jabs and kicks. There's a difference between staying mobile, giving a mobile target and "running" I find it difficult to describe the person who landed the most strikes in both rounds as running.

He moved straight backwards and got cornered on the fence by a big puncher. One fuckup and fight over, it happens.

While I agree that Volk was staying mobile and landing strikes, I disagree with your read overall.

Insofar as anyone who chooses to be locked in a cage to fight can be said to be running, he was running.

He was on the outside of the cage using his mobility to avoid engagement. He was not initiating the action, he was counter striking. It looked like he was measuring distance or perhaps trying to dissuade the aggressor.

Watching is objectively, volume notwithstanding (to say nothing of the quality of the striking), it was clear that Top was the aggressor, and was making a more meaningful impact with his strikes.

If I was judging the fight and took everything into account I would give Top the first round and likely the second.

That is not to say that Volk was cooked.

If Volk did not get knocked out and both fighters maintained those game plans for the entirety of the fight then I believe that Top's intensity would likely have diminished and Volk may very well have been able to turn the tide and eke out a victory, but that is a potentiality that did manifest. From what I saw, Top was clearly dominating Volk and it was only a matter of time before what ended up happening happened.

 

[aerius]

Volk was fighting really scared. The guy is typically a master of range, but he was throwing a lot of strikes out of range and was moving away with his head up -- two things very uncharacteristic of him. He still jabbed illia up in round one, but the stalking presence of illia was clear, and the fear in volk, even while winning the round, was clear. It just felt like unless volk started mixing up more level changes, then topuria would get to him eventually, and he did.

I noticed that too, Volk was in full keep-away mode and never threw anything to really get Topuria's respect. The kicks were scoring well but they weren't hard enough to really hurt Topuria or dissuade him from coming forward, jabs were the same, and there weren't any power punches either to stop him from stepping in. Once Ilia realized he could just eat Volk's strikes while walking him down it was pretty much all over, he was quite happy to stay in range and eat a few if needed to find openings for his own strikes.

 

[contrail]

Alex had just been KO'd for the first time in his career; the effects this has on a fighter's psychology and anatomy when a quick turnaround is in play have been known and observable in modern times for well over a century through boxing. Volk tried to convince himself he was different - he wasn't. The rest of your post is just hero worship and hyperbole which illuminates nothing of worth. If Top tried to box a top flight guy at their respective weight, he'd get tuned. He's a talented young MMA fighter who has a long way to go before the term Great can be associated with him. Time will tell.

 

[StonedLemur]

A sense of domination while landing more strikes and winning the round on all three judges score cards LOL?

He was outlanding him in the second as well. One thing I missed the first time around was about a minute and a half before the end Bisping mentioned that if he kept going straight back he was going to get cornered on the fence and eat a combo...

Mystic Ping called it.

My brother said that in the first round, so "Mystic my brother" lol

 

[Portland8242]

Topuria never deviated from his gameplan one bit. He knew Volk's exits and was confident in his hands that he'd find his punch off one of his exits. And boy did he.

To beat a guy like Topuria, you have to be willing to step into the pocket and throw with him. He's not iron chinned, he can be dropped and hurt. Playing around passively on the outside with point fighting kicks is absolutely not what you're supposed to do, if Topuria's got nothing to worry about he's definitely plotting his way to find your chin. I was actually surprised Topuria wasn't using his own leg kicks more, they were very effective on Volk.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Alex had just been KO'd for the first time in his career; the effects this has on a fighter's psychology and anatomy when a quick turnaround is in play have been known and observable in modern times for well over a century through boxing. Volk tried to convince himself he was different - he wasn't. The rest of your post is just hero worship and hyperbole which illuminates nothing of worth. If Top tried to box a top flight guy at their respective weight, he'd get tuned. He's a talented young MMA fighter who has a long way to go before the term Great can be associated with him. Time will tell.

Defnot hero worship Hyperbole possibly.
I mean you can make excuses for Alex but the bottomline is that he put on his bigboy pants and committed to this fight. Nobody in their right mind would go into a fight like this thinking theyre at 90% or anything less than 100.

I see pure genius with Top
This ass kicking was deliberate and unquestioned at the beginning bell

 

[sdpdude9]

While Volk was technically winning on points, didn’t seem like he was actually winning the overall battle from the get go to me. Seemed like just a matter of time before Topuria pulled the trigger and put him away. He was stalking him and I thought it was clear Volk was uncomfortable and hoping to pitter patter away to a decision.

 

[Pechan]

No one is perfect, Volk has great defense but age is age, your reaction time gets slower, stuff that you saw coming you no longer see, strikes that you tanked are now rocking you.

Volk always had openings but with his speed, reflexes and endurance he overcame them, now he is getting slower wich is normal, he stills runs through most of the division but expect him to lose more often.