Ilia Topuria ran through Charles Oliveira and made it look easy.
What’s even crazier is that Topuria showed his hand in the very first exchange, before the fight even. But with this prior knowledge, Charles Oliveira was still helpless to what was destiny.
Today we will look at exactly how Ilia Topuria turned the lights off of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. We will look at the foundation of his attack, his answer to the low kicks, and the finish so we can better understand what “El Matador” brings to the table.
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Setting expectations
Ilia Topuria predicates his entire game off causing uncertainty in his opponents. From the very beginning of the fight, Topuria establishes the jab and is sewing the seeds of uncertainty from there.
Instead of the jab being the first line of defense for Topuria, he uses false starts where a jab should be. Instead, as we see with Charles Oliveira…
…“do Bronx” is left reacting to a punch that would never come. Topuria keeps him honest by throwing out the jab often but keeps him guessing with the false starts.
Dealing with Charles Oliveira’s kicks
Charles Oliveira offers a very kick heavy game. Being a much longer fighter than Topuria, with Oliveira enjoying a five inch reach advantage, the kids were always a part of Oliveira’s plan. But Topuria dealt with this perfectly with the jab.
Topuria clocked the low kick early and every time Oliveira threw it, the Georgian would step in and eat the kick and use his jab.
This works incredibly well with Oliveira on one leg and at risk of being knocked down lest that massive right hand comes back his way.
Oliveira also had his push kick neutralized almost immediately.
A much longer jab, Charles Oliveira often uses the push kick to establish range and brutalize the midsection and legs of his opponents. Topuria’s answer to this was, again, simple.
Notice Topuria (1) timing the step in from Oliveira. (2) He uses the jab established earlier wile stepping to the side causing the push kick to go by. (3) To further this, he also circles o away, exiting at an angle with his rear foot.
Ilia Topuria finishing Charles Oliveira
Ilia Topuria made it abundantly clear what he intended to do to Charles Oliveira. In the lead up to the fight, Topuria said that Oliveira is going to meet him in the middle and that would lead to his demise.
Ilia Topuria would be correct.
Topuria would do something incredibly simple yet effective. He would jab to get a reaction out of Oliveira. When Oliveira saw the jab, he would step in and Topuria would look to land huge shots over the top.
This was Roberto Duran’s bread and butter. He would throw throw out the jab to get a reaction out of whoever his victim would be and would then counter with a vicious array of attacks. Topuria being a student of boxing, he would do the same thing to Oliveira with devastating effect.
Topuria would (1) use the jab to draw the reaction from Charles Oliveira. (2) Oliveira would step in to exchange and (3) Topuria would put his lights out with a right hand.
Ilia Topuria was not insanely technical against Charles Oliveira. He showed from the literal first exchange what he was going to do and Charles Oliveira was still helpless to the consequences. Ilia Topuria is truly a generational talent.
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