Ilia Topuria has expressed a desire to move on from the featherweight division, and his coach has explained why.
Topuria is the reigning UFC featherweight titleholder. He’s had one successful title defense and that was a huge knockout victory over Max Holloway at UFC 308 back in October. To capture the gold at 145 pounds, Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski. While some might say a move to lightweight is too soon for Topuria, he’s already beat two future UFC Hall of Famers and stalwarts of the featherweight division.
It isn’t necessarily the feeling of already proving himself at featherweight that has led Topuria to want a change, however.
Ilia Topuria’s Coach Goes In-Depth on Potential Move to Lightweight
Coach Jorge Climent recently served a guest on Submission Radio. During his appearance Climent revealed why Ilia Topuria is giving a move to 155 pounds some serious thought.
“The reality I think is he hates that weight,” Climent said. “He do it a lot of times and it’s very harder every time we do it.”
Ultimately, Climent believes Topuria feels 155 pounds is his natural weight class.
“He don’t want to do this anymore and that’s why he want to go up to the next weight class because he thinks his normal weight is in that weight class.”
Climent knows how Topuria handles weight cuts, and it’s never easy to pull off.
“I think sometimes I see Ilia at 85 kilos, you know, and he needs to be 66,” Climent said. “We do very big weight cut.”
Climent then said he would expect the UFC Featherweight Championship to be vacated if Topuria goes through with making a move to lightweight official. We’ll keep you posted on what Ilia Topuria decides to do next, as well as the state of the 145-pound division.