Why former UFC champ Ilia Topuria isn't a fan of Yair Rodriguez's fighting style
Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria doesn't rate Yair Rodriguez's fighting style very highly.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) isn't expected to cross paths with former title challenger Rodriguez after vacating his 145-pound title. He is currently gunning for an immediate shot at UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Rodriguez (20-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) is campaigning for another opportunity at the 145-pound title after defeating former Bellator dual-champ Patricio Freire at UFC 314 earlier this month. However, that didn't stop Topuria from analyzing Rodriguez's style and explained why he isn't too fond of it.
"I don't know what to tell you about Yair Rodriguez. I'm not a big fan of him," Topuria said in a recent episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience." "He's the type of guy that you don't even need to take him down, he goes to the ground himself. He's like very spectacular the way he fights, the striking, the kicks he throws and all that, but I'm not a big fan of him."
On the contrary, Topuria is a fan of how his past two opponents fight, whom he knocked out in back-to-back title fights.
"I'm a fan of Volk (Volkanovski) and Max Holloway," Topuria said. "Actually, they were the smartest guys that I ever faced inside the octagon. I felt that they were smart. They had that fight IQ. They know how to fight."
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