How Ilia Topuria Killed the King

Ilia Topuria was not the most battle-tested property in the UFC, yet when he got his chance to be locked in a cage with one of the all time greats of mixed martial arts, he did not waste a second. In just two rounds, Topuria was able to cautiously walk down, trap, and finish the long reigning featherweight king, Alexander Volkanvoski. Let us examine how.

Volk on the Open Side

It seemed as though the champion’s team had scouted the openings that Topuria leaves on his open side, because Volkanovski got to work with his left high kick and body kick almost immediately. Against most opponents the job of Volkanovski’s left kick is to hack at the inside of their lead leg. The number of kicks Volkanovski took above the waist on the open side said a great deal about his preparation.

In the very first exchange of the fight, Volkanovski retreated a couple of steps, popped a half hearted jab, and tried to snake the left high kick behind Topuria’s parry. The same left high kick had been used to great effect by Jai Herbert and as even Josh Emmett had come surprisingly close with on his attempts.

Fig. 1

More often, Volkanovski threw his left leg to the body. Sometimes as a lead, sometimes as a counter. If he slotted it in under the elbow, it would hurt but if Topuria’s elbow was snuggly in place to block the kick from reaching his ribs, the challenger would be more susceptible on the occasions Volkanovski threw the high kick instead. The simple body kick / head kick double attack.  

Fig. 2

Volkanovski’s offensive on Topuria’s open side continued with his handfighting and his jab. Figure 3 shows how Volkanovski repeatedly pulled at and teased Topuria’s right hand with his left. All handfighting is pulling or pushing the hand until you get what you want, or the opponent reacts and you can exaggerate that reaction. So by pulling at Topuria’s right hand, Volkanovski could make Topuria tighten up and attempt to keep his guard steady, which allowed Volkanovski to shoot the jab down the inside.

Figure 3 shows Volkanovski circling to his left and reaching out with his left hand to annoy Topuria’s rear hand (b). As Topuria pulls his right hand back and out to prevent Volkanovski from getting his hand around it (c), Volkanovski shoots a jab up the inside (d) and V-steps back to his left (e).

Fig. 3

Having spent last week writing an article about Ilia Topuria’s use of the pivoting V-step and how that technique makes a fighter vulnerable to outside low kicks / calf kicks, it was peculiar that it was Volkanovski who operated the V-step and was made to pay for it in the same way. By circling constantly to Topuria’s right—in order to vex his rear hand, shoot left kicks above the waist, and jab off with the V-step—Volkanovski left himself exposed for a number of severe calf kick connections. Figure 4 shows Volkanovski circling and swatting and Topuria’s right hand again, but this time he is hit with the calf kick as he pivots around his lead foot.

Fig. 4

Topuria’s March to the Fence

Topuria’s plan was apparent from the get-go. He wanted to corner Volkanovski and blast him with punches. While his output was substantially lower than Volkanovski’s he was able to keep up the pressure through the use of shoulder feints and false entries. Simply through stabbing in his lead leg, or shrugging his lead shoulder, Topuria could draw a reaction from Volkanovski. Figure 5 shows Topuria performing a beautiful shoulder feint: changing levels onto his lead leg but remaining in complete control of his weight, rebounding out of reach as Volkanovski flings a left high kick well off target.

Fig. 5

Topuria, an avid student of the sweet science, also borrowed one of boxing’s great tactics. When he could not get to the head, he occupied himself landing jabs and right straights to the body. It is something you will hear shouted at amateur boxers constantly but it is far better to hit something, to move the opponent, to have them know that you can hit them and to remind yourself as well, than it is to swing overhand at thin air.

This brings us to the playoff between Volkanovski’s signature inside low kick and Topuria’s right hand. When a fighter steps forward and to the left to open their hips and commit their weight to a right hand, their lead leg is vulnerable to being struck from the inside and knocked out from underneath them. Very much like the cross counter—the right hand across the top of the jab—it is a matter of timing. You can perfectly time an inside low kick to take out an opponent’s base as he steps into his right hand, or you can be caught on one foot, kicking a solidly planted lead leg, and eating a right hand.

One element that made the difference was that while Topuria wanted to land his booming right hand, he did not step wide and swing. We discussed this briefly after Superlek vs Takeru, but stepping out and to the left—the comfortable way to swing overhand rights—exposes the inside of the lead leg to inside low kicks, ankle sweeps or, as in Superlek vs Takeru, the full footed teep to the inside of the thigh. When Topuria stepped in, he tended to step straight out in front of himself, lead foot and knee slightly turned in. Figure 6 shows an example.

Topuria steps in with his lead foot toed in (b), and as Volkanovski tears off an inside low kick it connects on the front of Topuria’s quadriceps (c). Topuria shuffles his right foot up (d) and can drive forward again into his right hand, with Volkanovski scrambling to recover his kicking leg in time to circle off (e).

Fig. 6

Volkanovski’s retreat and low kick tactics have been important in his UFC career. The first fight with Max Holloway was dictacted by the outside low kick Volkanovski landed when Holloway jabbed in, and he had similar success against Brian Ortega. But kicking on the back foot takes great timing which isn’t a physical attribute, it’s a relationship with the opponent. Topuria’s feints and false entries, and his crowding of Volkanovski at every opportunity, made it difficult and much more dangerous to retreat and kick effectively.

One aspect of the fight that was causing great concern among viewers and commentators was Volkanovski’s jab-and-pull.  With Topuria so effectively pressuring Volkanovski towards the cage, and hunting the cross counter over the top of Volkanovski’s jab, it was a little alarming that Volkanovski seemed to lifting his chin to look over the top of his jab as Paddy Pimblett does.

Fig. 7

As the two men exchange next to the fence more regularly in round two, Volkanovski stayed a split second ahead of Topuria’s right hand, jabbing and pulling or jabbing and getting down behind his lead shoulder. The finishing sequence from Topuria was a touch of class.

Parrying a Volkanovski jab (a), Topuria this time entered with a right hook to the body (c). Even hidden from the right hand behind his left shoulder, Volkanovski was turned by the punch and the left hook that followed smacked in behind his right hand (d).

Fig. 8

That same open side principle that we discussed at length in Ilia Topuria: The V-Step, the Pivot and the Shoulder Roll. In fact, the same combination that Josh Emmett landed to finally crack through Topuria’s defenses with some power. Reiterating the point that Topuria had been making with his body jabs and straights against Volkanovski: a body punch is not just about folding someone in half in one shot, it moves the opponent.

Fig. 9

As Topuria surged in behind this left hook, we got to see him at his best: against the fence. Just as he had melted Damon Jackson and Jai Herbert the moment they touched the cage, Topuria quickly found a fight ending right hand against Volkanovski. Figure 10 shows the key moment of the sequence. As Volkanovski was rushed onto the fence, his feet came level. This removes most of the practiced movements that a fighter has to protect himself, but also removes his “natural” defenses: being down behind his lead shoulder with his feet staggered to catch him if he gets stunned—the things that protect a fighter when he has no space to react.

Volkanovski reached out for a double collar tie as his back hit the cage: just as Islam Makhachev had against Volkanovski, and as Volkanovski had done successfully against Topuria minutes earlier, but this time he was caught on the chin in the act of reaching. It was unlucky that Topuria just happened to be in position to hit him flush on the jaw the moment that he reached out, but the breakdown of Volkanovski’s position was forced by Topuria’s consistent crowding work.

Alexander Volkanovski has seemingly carried the UFC’s schedule on his back for the last couple of years and as a fan favorite, sadness abounds in MMA. This is not just because he lost to Topuria but because he is getting older and this second loss back to back serves as a reminder of the fleeting instant that even an all time great fighting career represents.

But this loss also rings with change: with Ilia Topuria’s ascension to the featherweight throne the mantle of longest reigning current champion falls to Leon Edwards, who has held the welterweight belt for just a year and a half. If Volkanovski does something incredible and bests Topuria in the rematch, he cannot undo the overall feeling in MMA that we are at the end of an era.