Ilia Topuria made a surprising shakeup ahead of his vacant lightweight title fight at UFC 317.
Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will get his desired immediate lightweight title shot against Charles Oliveira next month at UFC 317. After months of speculation over a potential fight with Islam Makhachev, Topuria and Oliveira will fight for Makhachev’s vacant belt, as Makhachev plans a move to the welterweight division.
But ahead of his shot at a second UFC title, Topuria made a controversial change in his fight camp for UFC 317. Recent reporting highlights Topuria’s decision to move on from his longtime coaches ahead of the Oliveira fight, and while there isn’t reported ‘bad blood’ between the coaches and Topuria, it’s a head-scratching move so close to fight night.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier believes Topuria might be making a fight-altering mistake ahead of UFC 317.
Daniel Cormier wonders if Ilia Topuria’s coaching change is a significant mistake
In a recent upload to his YouTube channel, Cormier weighed in on Topuria’s bizarre move ahead of UFC 317.
“Ilia Topuria wants to fight Islam Makhachev but needs to get through Charles Oliveira first, especially when we’re hearing that he and his team are kind of going in separate directions,” Cormier said of Topuria. “Just because of the schedule, they said there’s no bad blood. I really don’t know how at this point, a month before what will be your opportunity to win a second title, how much effect that will have on Team Topuria…
“If I’m Ilia, I’m still just using those guys,” Cormier continued. “Because even if I have to do my training camp with someone else, I know that those guys know me so well, that if they can get with me for a week, two weeks, we’re still so aligned, especially if there’s no bad blood…
“This is the team that got [Ilia] from a young, young man, to being [undefeated] and a UFC champion. Beating the two greatest featherweights of all time! So to have that familiarity, is very important to an athlete…to me, that’s a little bit odd.”
Topuria enters UFC 317 unbeaten in his professional MMA career with recent knockouts of Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. Ahead of his big lightweight move, Topuria has one career lightweight fight; a come-from-behind win over Jai Herbert in 2022.
It’s uncertain if Topuria’s coaching switch-up is short-term or long-term, but in either case, it’s a unique decision ahead of arguably the biggest fight of his career. Oliveira, a former UFC lightweight titleholder, is predicting a brutal knockout over Topuria at UFC 317.
Daniel Cormier scolded Chael Sonnen for labeling Islam Makhachev a ‘coward’
Cormier and his ESPN co-host, Chael Sonnen, are at odds over recent remarks Sonnen made about Cormier’s longtime friend and teammate Makhachev. Just days after the UFC 317 announcement, Sonnen labeled Makhachev a ‘coward’ for vacating the lightweight belt and not facing Topuria in another title defense.
In a recent upload to YouTube, Cormier picked apart Sonnen’s arguments and questioned the sincerity behind the remarks. Cormier wonders if Sonnen’s ‘cowardice’ claims are the result of trolling, or a genuine assessment of the UFC’s pound-for-pound king.
As of this writing, Sonnen hasn’t responded to Cormier, and Makhachev remains silent in response to Sonnen. One of the biggest fights of the UFC calendar year continues to include the shadow of Makhachev’s presence over the division.