Ilia Topuria’s physios and their work during weight loss: “It is a delicate moment”

There are only two days left until the most anticipated fight by mixed martial arts (MMA) fans. Spanish UFC champion Ilia Topuria will face Hawaiian contender Max Holloway. During the week of the fight, the demand for commitments with the media is maximum, but to this we must add that the protagonists are immersed in an extreme weight loss to comply with the stipulations of their competition division. In Topuria’s case, 145 pounds, 65.7 kilograms.

Thus, the work of his medical staff becomes very necessary to adjust all the details and for Topuria to arrive at the fight in the best possible condition, after pushing his body to the limit. «It is a delicate moment due to the loss of fluids“We have to play well with hydration and the treatments we can do,” says Raúl Valdesuso on ABC, who together with Fran Ortega form the team of elite physiotherapists who accompany El Matador.

Their job consists of fine-tuning the human machine, anticipating possible inconveniences that may arise in this type of final preparations. «Almost all the work is done. It is the first fight that we travel with all the technology, we know certain things where Ilia fails and that is what we are maintaining, so that Friday does not arrive and no pain comes to light. It is more of a prevention work. The cut is hard and limits a lot, at the level of ‘biohacking’ we greatly increase the response capacity when it comes to going out to fight,” says Valdesuso, who assures that Topuria will reach practically one hundred percent performance for his fight against Holloway.

Something to which his colleague and partner, Fran Ortega, adds, who assures that Topuria “has arrived very well.” «He has no discomfort. We are prepared in case something appears, but it will be minimal. Let’s get to the activation part, which is key. We do advance work so that he is in a state of ‘flow’ during the fight,” Ortega reaffirms. Everything is ready, then, so that Topuria can defend its title for the first time in Abu Dhabi.