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Ilia Topuria is one of the biggest talents in the UFC. Even now, experts and retired UFC fighters see that Topuria will dominate for years ahead of us. His win against Josh Emmett a week ago paved the way for a title shot. UFC legend Daniel Cormier believes that Topuria deserves a title fight.
His goal is to wait for the fight between Volkanovski and Rodriguez. “I’m OK with him going right into a title fight,” Cormier told ESPN, as quoted by mmajunkieusatoday.com “I think he is that ready.
This kid showed conditioning over 25 minutes, he showed an ability to compete everywhere, and he really did just dominate. I think that he matches up relatively well against all of them. The technical fight between him and Yair (Rodriguez) would be crazy, but then also to watch him fight the champion, (Alexander) Volkanovski, with their skill sets – fantastic fights across the board at 145”.
Daniel Cormier on the negative aspect of Topuria
There is one thing that Daniel Cormier does not like about this fighter, even though he regards him highly. “He’s young. He’s like 25 years old or 26 years old.
He hasn’t fought much. The only thing that you could even take as a negative was he didn’t do the fighter meetings because he was cutting weight. That’s literally the only misstep. He had to get his weight down, and that’s not really a misstep." Daniel Cormier believes that the set of qualities that this fighter possesses is exactly what makes him so special.
For a young man of his age, he seems to be very mature. As a calm individual, someone who believes in himself, someone with a strong desire and motive, he has a lot to be proud of. “You can’t judge him harshly in anything that he did over the course of the first main event week that he’s ever had.
He’s calm. He’s collected. His demeanor outside of the octagon translates so well inside the octagon. He’s at the high guard, he’s in there, he sets everything up – he wastes nothing. This dude is just – he really is next-level and he is the evolution of mixed martial arts”.