UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria has looked dominant inside the Octagon, but can one strategy halt \u201cEl Matador\u2019s\u201d momentum?<\/p>\n
Many are wondering what\u2019s next for Topuria after he knocked out Charles Oliveira in the first round<\/a> of their title fight back in June to capture the 155-pound gold. Topuria has already secured championships in two different weight classes, and he\u2019s done so with his boxing.<\/p>\n Appearing on \u201cKnow Time,\u201d<\/a> American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez revealed how he thinks a fighter could have success against Topuria (via MMAFighting<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d need to work your kicks, angles with him,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cKnees. Muay Thai would be a good specialty. But your big task is to keep him away from you, and he\u2019s got decent wrestling. So he\u2019s also got, from people I\u2019ve spoken to that train with him, he\u2019s got decent jiu-jitsu also. So he\u2019s almost the complete package, but he\u2019s not. He lacks the kicking area.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the weakest link on him would be the kicking area. And then you have to test your grappling on him to see if yours is better than his. We\u2019ve yet to see how great it is. It\u2019s not great, but we\u2019ve yet to see how good it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n