One of the former enemies of Ilia Topuria says that a featherweight became even harder.
There is a new pound-for-pound king in the UFC and his name is Ilia Topuria. The UFC Lightweight Champion improved to 17-0 last weekend at UFC 317, where he eliminated former champion Charles Oliveira in the opening round.
Those are three straight knockouts for Topuria, who became the first hunter who eliminated Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway in the featherweight division.
Oliveira would have been the 8th finish of Topuria in a row if it had not been for the extremely sustainable chin of featherweight knockout artist Josh Emmett.
Emmett is the first and only hunter to enter a fourth round with Topuria, after he reached the five-round distance with the UFC champion in 2023. Despite losing one of the skewed fights in UFC history, Emmett was recently praised for its resilience and heart for 25 minutes against Topuria.
Although Topuria deformed his face, Emmett claims that he does not get harder than a Hawaiian with 'dynamite' in his hands.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Josh Emmett says that then Ie hits him harder than Ilia Topuria
Once the nickname 'Dynamite' for his KO power, #12-ranged UFC is then there with Emmett there as one of the toughest batters of the division.
It was Emmett who dropped Ige in their fight on UFC 269, and while he gained the decision victory, Emmett says that he was never hit harder than by Ige.
“Naturally, [Topuria] Hard, “Emmett told Danny Segura of MMA Junkie.
'But from a pure [power standpoint]- I feel that I was hit harder by people I fought.
“But the thing with Ilia is that his footwork is good,” Emmett explained.
“He is always in a really good position. He is fast, and he is very accurate and accurate. And so he doesn't load 100%. He lands [with] The accuracy and precision, at the speed, and that is where the power is.
“In the regional scene when I fought, Christos Giagos fought as a lightweight. He hit very hard. Then Ig can also crack. Ige also strikes very difficult. Like, damn it, that was a hard blow,” Emmett said about the power of Ige.
“I will say IG,” Emmett said about who is getting harder than Topuria.
Ilia Topuria praised Josh Emmett for his toughness in 2023 fight
Prior to Josh Emmett, only one man had made the decision of the judges with Topuria, and that was three rounds against Youssef Zalal. Emmett was planned for five at UFC Jacksonville on 24 June 2023.
Topuria almost finished Emmett with strikes in several rounds and in round 4 the American was saved by the bell.
Involved and bloody between the rounds, Emmett chose to continue to the round 5 where he pressed the accelerator pedal against Topuria and still tried to win the fight.
“I would expect him to eliminate him in the first round, but the man is really, very heavy,” Topuria said immediately after his fight with Emmett.
“I want to thank Josh to bring so much energy into the cage.”
Topuria took a rare 50-42 score card in his decision gain, in which one judge believed that Topuria Emmett had so badly dominated in rounds 3 and 4, to justify a score of 10-7 and 10-8.
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