Charles Oliveira gave Ilia Topuria a huge compliment this week that should terrify potential future opponents like Justin Gaethje.
Oliveira is a lock to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame when he decides to retire. He has the record for most submissions in company history. Twenty-three wins inside the Octagon, and is a former UFC lightweight champion with two defenses on his resume. Yet, what made his late career surge so impressive was his durability.
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Despite facing heavy hitters like Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Kevin Lee on his rise to immortality, he was never knocked out. The last time he was even stopped by punches in the Octagon was in 2017. That is why what Ilia Topuria did to him at UFC 317 by putting him to sleep was awe-inspiring.
Topuria didn’t get lucky because he knocked out both Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski in the two fights before that. He obviously has unique power, and “do Bronx” confirmed how serious it is in a recent interview.
Ilia Topuria record: 17-0 (7 knockouts, 8 submissions)
“I’ve never been knocked out before,” Oliveira told Ag. Fight. “I’ve been knocked down before, TKO’d, but had never been knocked out before. This time, no. I didn’t know what had happened. It was something new for me. He’s definitely the one who hit me the hardest.
“I’ve been hit before by super tough guys like Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, [guys] that knocked me down and hurt me, but he really hits hard.”
Of his 17 wins, Topuria has just seven knockouts. And three of them came in his last three fights. So he doesn’t have pure natural power like Conor McGregor or Derrick Lewis. However, he has good power matched with elite technique and accuracy. The combination is almost like having generational knockout skills.
It’s something his future title challengers should be worried about when they face him in the future.
