Praise for Topuria: Makhachev coach says what everybody’s thinking
In an appearance on the Know Time podcast, Javier Mendez broke down UFC star Ilia Topuria’s strengths and weaknesses.
Everyone agrees: Ilia Topuria is the best boxer in the UFC. Even his opponents can’t help but praise the Spanish-Georgian phenom’s striking prowess.
Javier Mendez, the legendary coach behind champions like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, broke down Topuria’s strengths and weaknesses during an appearance on the Know Time podcast.
“Even thinks he can beat Crawford”
“Ilia Topuria, I would say: With him, stay out of boxing range - one million percent, stay out of boxing range,” Mendez said. “He’s got the best boxing in the business, in MMA.”
Mendez added: “He’s got it so much that he even thinks he can beat [super-middleweight boxing champion Terence] Crawford. That’s how confident he is in his boxing.
“His boxing is good. His boxing is real good. Real good. So he’s got the best boxing in MMA.”
“He’s almost the complete package, but he’s not”
However, Mendez sees areas to exploit. “He’s almost the complete package, but he’s not - he lacks in the kicking area,” the 55-year-old said.
“The weakest link on him would be the kicking area. And then you have to test your grappling with him to see if yours is better than his.
“We’ve yet to see how great it is. It’s not great, but we’ve yet to see how good it really is.”
Mendez believes the blueprint to beat Topuria. “You need to work your kicks angles with him, knees,” he told Know Time. “Muay thai would be a good specialty.
“But your big task is to keep him away from you. He’s got decent wrestling, and so he’s also got, from people I’ve spoken to, they’ve trained with him, he’s got decent jiu-jitsu also.”
When will Topuria fight next?
Having defended his UFC lightweight title with a brutal first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira in June, Topuria’s next opponent is yet to be confirmed.
Britain’s Paddy Pimblett appears to be in pole position to face the 28-year-old, potentially in January next year.
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