Ilia Topuria decided to move to lightweight after destroying one of his division’s best grapplers.
All too similar to Conor McGregor, the former UFC Featherweight Champion left 145lbs at a perfect 7-0 with two title wins over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
Ilia Topuria, 28, will look to pick up a second belt at 155lbs with his next fight still not confirmed for UFC 317, which could either be champion Islam Makhachev, Charles Oliveira or someone else entirely on June 28th.
Makhachev and Oliveira both known for their incredible grappling, Topuria has gotten past a jiu-jitsu wizard before—one nobody else in the featherweight division wanted to fight.
Ilia Topuria hammered Ryan Hall to canvas for his first UFC loss
At UFC 264 in July 2021, the same night Conor McGregor broke his leg against Dustin Poirier, a 10-0 Topuria would fight on the prelims for the final time against an 8-1 Ryan Hall.
Hall, ‘The Ultimate Fighter 22’ winner, had won four-straight fights inside the UFC and carried a lot of hype because of his grappling credentials, Imanari rolls and signature heel hook submission.
Hall tapped out four fighters with a heel hook in the opening round, including former UFC Champion BJ Penn. A grappler of the highest order, Hall struggled to find opponents who’d sign on the dotted line—that was, until fellow bogeyman Topuria came along.
Pitted against a dangerous striker, Hall attempted multiple Imanari rolls on Topuria, trying to entangle his legs for a heel hook to no avail. Topuria expertly fended off Hall’s grappling attempts, keeping the fight on the feet.
Topuria tagged Hall with punches as the ‘TUF’ champion continued to go through with his awkward strategy as he rolled for legs and landed a couple of spinning back kicks.
After a missed kick, Topuria followed Hall to the ground where he rained down multiple shots. Unable to escape with his right arm trapped by Topuria’s head, Hall was brutally knocked out for the first time in his career.
Ilia Topuria nearly lost his 0 in lightweight fight right after
Ilia Topuria improved to 11-0 with his KO of Ryan Hall at UFC 264, showing he was levels above.
In his next fight, Topuria opted for a one-off fight at lightweight where he took on Jai Herbert, an opponent who had an 8-inch reach advantage on him.
Less than a minute into the opening round, Topuria was knocked down by a headkick and he immediately dived for Herbert’s legs as he tried to survive.
Topuria was able to find his bearings as he bounced back against Herbert with a thunderous second-round knockout to keep his undefeated record intact.
The fight against Jai Herbert does raise some concerns about how the 5’7″ Ilia Topuria will do at lightweight but the former champion isn’t short on confidence, having knocked out both Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at 145lbs, the only fighter to do so.