Ilia Topuria has had a meteoric rise to the featherweight title since joining the UFC in 2020. Since then he’s won seven straight fights, extending his record to 15-0 as a total. This culminated with his win over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.
What makes Ilia Topuria so special as a fighter? How does he use his hands and head movement in tandem to create the perfect storm. In today’s film study, we are going to look at just that.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:45 Ilia Topuria setting up with the jab
4:16 Topuria’s muleta
8:55 Combination work: Topuria’s hammer
We start off the video by examining how Ilia Topuria utilizes the jab. He often steps in, glides out and looks to counter. If he cannot find a counter, he will not force things. We then take off on a tangent with Canelo Alvarez to see where Topuria’s inspiration comes from as a striker.
Next, we move on to the head movement of Ilia Topuria, his muleta. We go in depth on false starts, the shoulder roll and how Topuria keeps an opponent from crowding him. Lastly we look at what Topuria is doing to weave in on longer or taller opponents with his head movement.
In our final chapter, we will break down Ilia Topuria’s best attribute: his combination punching. The video will dive into combination punching from his fights with Bryce Mitchell, Jai Herbert, Damon Jackson and Josh Emmett.
Check out my film study on Alexander Volkanovski and his head movement:
Articles mentioned in the video:
Canelo Alvarez: Perfecting Boxing’s Basics: [ Ссылка ]
Sean Strickland and the use of foundational footwork: [ Ссылка ]
