Jorge Climent, Ilia Topuria’s coach, knows that featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is a tough fighter. Nonetheless, he believes his student could dethrone “The Great.”
Ilia will be challenging Volkanovski for his belt at UFC 298 on February 17. Needless to say, both sides are now preparing for the match, with Volkanovski promising to “humble” the undefeated challenger. Climent, however, is confident about the training and preparations their team is doing to arm Topuria.
“The focus has been on all dimensions, because we believe we need to be ready for wherever Volkanovski wants to take the fight,” Climent told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “We know that he’s a very complete fighter, but it all depends on the decision he’s going to make in that octagon.
“With all the trainings we’ve done, I think he’s going to be a bit scared of the power that Ilia has in his hands, and he will try to go for the takedown and make the fight dirty. But really, we’ve trained all aspects of Ilia: striking, jiu-jitsu. His jiu-jitsu hasn’t been on full display in the UFC, but if you look at his fights prior to the UFC, we submitted everyone in the first round.”
Of course, challenging a division champ won’t be easy, especially since the 35-year-old continues to have a clean 145-pound slate. And although he lost to Islam Makhachev in lightweight, the champ is determined to prove to doubters that he’s still powerful in his own class weight realm. Climent agreed to that but underscored that Topuria would be his kryptonite.
“I don’t see him vulnerable at all. He’s still the No. 1 guy at 145 pounds,” Climent said. “Yes, it’s true that he made a bad decision in taking a short-notice fight against someone with the caliber of Islam Makhachev, but I’m sure he has all the motivation in the world to win this fight.
“I don’t see him vulnerable. What I do see is that I see him inferior to Ilia’s level in all aspects. He does have more experience than Ilia, but I don’t see him better in the striking, in the takedowns or the ground. I think this is a fight where everything is in our favor.”
