Skip to main content

Ilia Topuria identifies where he's 'going to make a difference' vs. Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298

Ilia Topuria sees his ground game posing problems for UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) for the 145-pound title in the UFC 298 headliner on Feb. 17.

Topuria started his career with seven consecutive submission wins but has relied more on his striking in recent octagon bouts. But against Volkanovski, he sees the ground as his path to victory.

“That’s where I really think I have the advantage with him because he’s a good striker, but he’s not a natural wrestler. or he’s not good on the ground,” Topuria said on the Overdogs Podcast. “That’s where I’m going to make a difference.”

Volkanovski will make less than a four-month turnaround after suffering a first-round knockout to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294. However, Topuria isn’t putting too much stock into that.

“For me, what happened in his last fight doesn’t change anything,” Topuria said. “I know the result will be the same, training is the same, the focus is the same. I’m going to train for the best in the world, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to get that win.”

Undefeated Topuria actually thinks the knockout loss takes the weight off Volkanovski’s shoulders.

“He has really nothing to lose. He already lost,” Topuria said through an interpreter. “He already knows how that feels, I don’t know how that feels, and I better never taste how that’s going to feel.”

If victorious, Topuria has already mapped out a plan where he makes his first title defense against another featherweight great.

“So, that’s what I think is going to happen that I’m going to beat Volk on Feb. 17 and then I’m going to fight Max Holloway here in Spain,” Topuria said. “That’s my goal right now, and I think it’s going to happen.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/yjJwqNi
via IFTTT
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese fighter: Joshua Van details pioneering journey to plant Myanmar's flag on UFC turf

Joshua Van remembers asking his mother why they had to live in Houston. Why couldn’t they just go back home where things were familiar? He was 12 years old at the time, and Van wanted to go back to where he lived the first decade of his life, in Myanmar. Life wasn’t easy for an undersized pre-teen who spoke little English and was picked on during school for both of those attributes. Looking back, the math adds up that he’d become the first Burmese fighter to compete in the UFC. “I was a small kid,” Van recently told MMA Junkie. “From where I come from, you get picked on. It’s kind of like I fight everyday, and I got to the point where I enjoyed fighting. I watched clips on street fights and how to win street fights. I tried it in my next fight and things like that. That’s what got me into my career.” Van grew up one of five siblings in Myanmar, a country ridden with military and political conflict . When things increasingly worsened, Van’s parents decided to move to Malaysia. Van...
Read more

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

Logan Paul, KSI to fight (separately) as part of Misfits Boxing 'The Prime Card'

Logan Paul and KSI will top an upcoming Misfits Boxing card entitled “The Prime Card,” they announced Friday on social media . The event takes place Oct. 14 at AO Arena in Manchester, England and streams on DAZN pay-per-view. Opponents for the two influencers-turned-boxers have not yet been announced. It is unclear if the bouts will be professional or exhibition. Paul, 28, has not competed in a professional boxing match since he fought and lost to  KSI in November 2019. The bout was a rematch of an August 2018 amateur fight which ended in a draw. In June 2021, Paul competed in an exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather and went all eight rounds in a non-scored bout. While he’s been relatively inactive in boxing, Paul has thrilled fans with his athleticism in intermittent appearances in pro wrestling bouts for WWE. KSI, 30, has competed four times since the pro bout against Paul. All four of those matches were exhibitions. KSI won three of them inside the distance, while a f...
Read more