Volkanovski vs. Topuria is Probably the Most Interesting Fight on the Horizon

[AmonTobin]

Also fact max wrestle fucked yair

Sure. However Max’s achievements aren’t Topuria’s to claim. He’d have to fight Yair for us to know for sure how it shakes out. Should be a great title fight. This is Topuria’s big opportunity.

 

[DjolexMTL]

Lmao he dominated Bryce and beat him where he is best at, lol at trying to downplay the fight because of what Emmett did, who Topuria also dominated.

I'm not saying he should be favored over Volk but your descriptions of those fights are fucking terrible.

I don't see it that way but I respect your perspective

The Emmet and Bryce were good performances for sure, I just disagreed with OP that they were worthy of "oh my god this guy is an absolute monster Volk is in trouble"

He might be, but those performances are not clear tells

 

[Safton]

The Volk we saw in the first Makhachev bout, against Yair, and against Max in the trilogy is someone I think matches up very well against Ilia. I would happily back him against Topuria with a fair amount of confidence.

...but are we going to get that same version of Alex? If not, what percentage of him are we going to get? Because in the time between now and those performances he has passed the spooky 35 mark and also been brutally TKO'd. Those two things are both potential harbingers of elite athletes falling off overnight, albeit not as a rule. As I recall no champ at the lower weight classes has ever successfully defended beyond 35. Needless to say, given all of this plus Ilia being a solid, well-rounded finisher who stormed up the ranks... there is definitely enough writing on the wall to have me spooked and give me a bad feeling in my gut, regardless of how I feel about the stylistic matchup.

That said, I'm probably still going to side with Alex regardless as the more proven commodity based on what I do know rather than going with what could be possible. No outcome will surprise me, however.

EDIT: I want to make something clear by adding a disclaimer. If Topuria wins, it is as much by his own skill set and talents as the red flags I'm throwing out about Alex. By no means am I trying to prematurely discredit Topuria's potential victory or make excuses for Volk ahead of time. That's silly. Ilia is a great fighter that I have thoroughly enjoyed watching rise through the ranks. I'm a fan and I believed in him when others didn't. If he beats Volk, it's a legit victory; I am just trying to analyze the fight and all the potential factors that may or may not play into it.

 

[JustBreed]

Yeah it's a great fight

However not hating but.. when have we seen Topuria be "an absolute monster"?

His performance against Emmet was good but not out of this world, and he beat Bryce but less convincingly than Emmet.

And then there are the Herbert and Hall fights.

Am I missing something? Surely he has ton of potential but I'm not too sure his record tells the story yet

I got Volk in this one

I only just watched the Emmet fight for first time a couple of days ago. He looks fast as fuck, and alot of those shots would've at least dropped Volk. Looked real good on the ground too.

Emmet ain't Volk, so maybe it skews things, but to me Topuria looked like he could do everything that Volk could do. He's young and could turn up looking even better.

Intriguing fight

 

[r-harper-1]

Account bet?

No thanks rookie

 

[Khaosan]

No thanks rookie

 

[Thatlookinhiseyes]

To me, this is the fight that can push past aldo as the fw goat. Aldo is a 2x FW champ with 9 (including WEC) title defenses consecutively in his first reign. This could be volks 6th defense. Ilia represents the new generation of FW’s. If volk can get past him; and in impressive fashion, I believe volks 6 defenses are better than Aldo’s 9. 3 generation of fighters, older, his generation, and new generation.

 

[Choco]

Easy? Really?.

I'm going to drop my gimmick as Sherdog's Official Top-Dog Hype Man for a second and acknowledge that Volk, being in my opinion, as good a fighter as more famous all time greats, might actually pull one of his famous five round decisions off. But sure is not going to be easy.

Gloating time. Those who babbled about how easily Volk would run through Ilia, can queue here to get their "Owned" certifcate.