Things are already getting interesting as for Ilia
Topuria as his lightweight debut draws near.
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With his fight against Charles
Oliveira for the vacant lightweight belt on the horizon,
Topuria announced that he had
split with longtime coaches Jorge and Agustin
Climent.
According to Spanish outlet Marca, the main reason for the split
was geographical, as Ilia
Topuria and his brother Aleksandre had moved permanently to the
Spanish capital Madrid, more than 400 kilometers from Alicante, the
city where the Climent Brothers gym is located. In a press
conference at the Spanish event “WOWfc” Topuria confirmed the
information and said that his main training partners for this camp
should be his brother, Mani Tavanaei, Mathias Ribeiro (black belt
in jiu-jitsu) and Javi Climent (originally a boxing coach and now a
striking coach).
When asked about Jean Silva’s
offer t
to help Oliveira in camp, the former featherweight champion
expressed doubt that the partnership would happen.
„The truth is, if he knows how to imitate me, why didn’t he do the
same thing I did? That’s just talk,” Topuria said. “Because they
all say they know how to imitate me, and then they can’t. You know
what happens inside the Octagon. So I wish him all the luck in the
world, but those are just loud statements. Knowing how to imitate
me is complicated.”
Topuria and Oliveira will face off in the main event of UFC 317
during International Fight Week on June 28. The duel is for the
lightweight title, after Islam
Makhachev gave up his title to seek a second belt in the
welterweight division.