Ilia Topuria vs Alexander Volkanovski What Happened!?
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My oh my. Ilia Topuria did what he said he was going to do, knocking out Alexander Volkanovski in the second round! Volkanovski opened the bout with a left high kick demonstrating he had done his homework and had a clear gameplan. Topuria is an orthodox power puncher, with his most dangerous weapon being the right hand. By using the left high kick volkanovski was ensuring topuria would have to keep his right hand by his head to try his best to take that weapon away. Topuria has been floored in the past with left high kicks on several occasion, most notably in the UFC by Jai Herbert, so it would be a wise tactic for volk to use in an effort to keep topuria honest.
The leg kicks were another talked about point, volkanovski being an excellent low kicker and topuria having a wide and low base designed for power punching, his legs would be a target. Volk is good at trailing leg kicks on the end of his combinations and he did a good job of hitting topuria to both the inside and outside of his leg whilst the bout lasted. Something I wasn’t a fan of was volk circling toward the power right hand of topuria, think Bisping vs dan Henderson, but he was using an outstretched lead hand to occupy the right hand of topuria on occasion as he did so. I just wasn’t keen on volk moving in that direction when he didn’t do this.
I felt like Volkanovskis tactics were pretty much on point, he was fighting a smart fight and he looked good! He looked in shape. Topuria is just so damn strong and powerful! He is such a well rounded fighter he is going to be very hard to beat!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
#topuria #volkanovski #ufc298 #knockout #featherweight
