Ilia Topuria has gotten the attention of legendary boxing analyst Teddy Atlas.
Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) battered Josh Emmett for five rounds in this past Saturday’s UFC on ABC 5 headliner at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The fight marked the first time Topuria has gone 25 minutes.
Topuria put a heavy pace on Emmett and never let his foot off the gas pedal, which impressed Atlas, who sees a resemblance between the striking style of Topuria and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“Topuria, he reminds me with his striking a little of Volkanovski, where he’s so solid technically, he’s so buttoned-up with his approach, his overall approach, that it just reminded me of him a little bit,” Atlas said on his show, “THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas.”
Atlas lauded Topuria for his composure. The unbeaten 26-year-old never got overzealous when seeking the finish against Emmett.
“Topuria was always in control,” Atlas added. “Never ahead of himself, never got reckless. Like I said, he’s a technically solid, buttoned-up striker who has good timing, uses his jab very well to set up punches and to control range while stabilizing his opponent with his jab on the outside.
“Topuria dominated the rounds after the first. … Topuria was calm, collected. He forced Emmett to work a lot harder at a much faster pace to stay in the fight, expending a lot of energy and gas. While Topuria was cautiously aggressive, he was always looking for counters, did some really good counters in there. When Topuria throws, he makes everything count.”
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