Anyone who has trained with Ilia Topuria has one maxim: the pressure that the UFC champion puts you under is a real nightmare. And they all, obviously, have a high level, but El Matador seems to be from another planet. The last to speak out on the matter was one of his closest friends in mixed martial arts (MMA), the Georgian and bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishbili.
The current monarch of the 135-pound (61.2 kilograms) division has been able to share the tatami and octagon on several occasions with Topuria, testing first-hand the strength and technique of the Spanish-Georgian champion. «I have sparred with him and he has always pushed me against the fence. And then he comes, and he comes (throwing punches). It doesn’t make sense, if you shoot at him, he makes that big display», he noted in the podcast of the head coach of Xtreme Couture, Erik Nicksick.
Those sessions of hard work with Topuria helped him continue polishing details for his next match, scheduled for Saturday, January 18, when he will have to defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov. «There is no way to take him down, he is good at wrestling (hand-to-hand fighting), he has good defense, he has great Brazilian jiujitsu… He just continues to press, throwing big blows. “It’s crazy,” Dvalishbili recounted on the Verse Us program.
Merab describes his sparring session with Topuria.
He praises Ilia’s ability to back him against the fence and says that he’s impossible to take down
@vsuspod pic.twitter.com/1osdezOPQV
— MMABoxingCasual (@TopuriaLand) January 3, 2025
The UFC bantamweight champion also spoke about his next challenge, against the cousin of the well-known Khabib Nurmagomedov, who comes from the Dagestan school with a great technical level. «The fact that I can come back within four months after winning the title, I think it means a lot. I think it’s a quick change. Also, I accepted this fight, pretty quickly too, six weeks… And I have no excuses. I had so many plans for Christmas, New Year, my birthday… And I was going to go with Ilia to Spain and enjoy. But you know what, Umar doesn’t want to fight during Ramadan, no problem,” he said. Dvalishbili won the title in September 2024 and will now seek his first defense against the aforementioned Russian fighter.
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