Latest news with #ClimentClub
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Roy Jones Jr offers to help coach UFC star ahead of historic world title fight
Jones Jr - who has great experience coaching the biggest names in boxing - has offered to help training a UFC fighter just weeks before their world title fight Boxing icon Roy Jones Jr has unexpectedly offered to coach Ilia Topuria in the run-up to his lightweight title showdown against Charles Oliveira. Topuria, a former UFC featherweight champion, is set to face off against the Brazilian for the vacant 155lb title on 28 June at UFC 317. This follows shortly after Islam Makhachev relinquished the belt to move up to welterweight, with an immediate title shot against Jack Della Maddalena expected later this year. Oliveira is aiming to reclaim the lightweight championship after losing it to Makhachev in 2022. Meanwhile, Topuria, the Spaniard-Georgian claimed the featherweight title after defeating Alexander Volkanovski last year and successfully defended it with a victory over Max Holloway. Known as 'El Matador', Topuria was initially recognised for his formidable skills on the mat during his rise through the ranks. However, in recent years, his striking ability has significantly improved, earning him recognition as one of the sport's top strikers. With only weeks remaining until his match against Oliveira, Jones Jr has offered to assist the 28-year-old in sharpening his tools. In an interview with Prime Casino, the boxing icon said: "I would make a lot of difference [to Ilia Topuria's camp for Charles Oliveira] because I teach how to get the most out of the striking, how to stay set while you're doing it. Because in MMA you gotta always be set because guys can take your legs out, but the way I fight you always stay set, so I think what I teach would be advantageous to anybody who chose to indulge in it and get what I really teach." The 56-year-old boxing veteran - who last stepped into the ring in 2023 - added: "Roy understands the mechanics of all boxing, all fighting, not just boxing, all arts of fighting. Roy understands the mechanics of MMA totally well and totally understands what's necessary and what's not necessary to make you a better fighter." With the eagerly anticipated clash on the around the corner, Ilia Topuria has shocked the MMA world by parting ways with his lifelong coaches, Agustin and Jorge Climent. The Climent brothers run the renowned Climent Club in Alicante, Spain, where 'El Matador' and his sibling Aleksandre Topuria had trained during their early days in MMA. Following his featherweight championship victory last year, Topuria took the significant step of relocating from Alicante to Madrid. There appears to have been a split in the training camp of the former featherweight champion, as "both sides live in different cities, and their multiple professional projects prevent them from collaborating as they once did," according to a MARCA report. Expressing his gratitude for the support over the years, Topuria extended his thanks: "We thank them for all these years of mutual learning and growth, and they wholeheartedly wish them all the best in all their projects." As he gears up for the bout with his Brazilian opponent, Topuria is expected to have a team that includes his brother, Aleksandre, Jesus Gallo, Javi Climent – who is not connected to the Climent brothers – Mani Tavanaei, and Mathias Ribeiro.
USA Today
23-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Chael Sonnen concerned by Ilia Topuria's split with coaches ahead of UFC 317
Chael Sonnen concerned by Ilia Topuria's split with coaches ahead of UFC 317 Chael Sonnen is concerned with some of the recent headlines around former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. This week, it was announced that Topuria has split with his long-time coaches, Jorge and Agustin Climent, and will no longer continue his career under the Climent Club banner. The news comes at an interesting time as Topuria's highly anticipated lightweight move sits weeks away. Topuria takes on former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the main event of UFC 317 on June 28 in Las Vegas. Sonnen isn't too sure this was a good decision. "It's a hard story for me to look at," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. "I just know I couldn't have done it. I couldn't have done it. If one day Clayton (Sonnen's coach) calls me up and tells me he's out, I would've been done. I wouldn't have done it, and I could overcome a lot of things, but not that. Now, this was by choice. This wasn't a death like Mike Tyson and Cus D'Amato just for example. This was by choice, but you're still somewhere else, and I have never seen anybody be able to prepare themselves, and I know plenty of people in different sports that have tried." Topuria moved from Alicante, where Climent Club is located, to Madrid last year in pursuit of better business opportunities. Training with Climent Club at a distance didn't work for either party, thus causing the split. Topuria will continue to train with his boxing coach Javi Climent – who moved from Alicante to Madrid; his nutritionist and physical trainer Jesus Gallo and Aldo Martinez; and jiu-jitsu black belts Mani Tavanaei and Mathias Ribeiro – who were incorporated into Topuria's team in recent times. Sonnen is concerned about there not being an apparent head coach for Topuria. "Mayweather has a coach, Mike Tyson has a coach, Serena has a coach, Lebron has a coach, Kobe has a coach, Tiger Woods," Sonnen said. "They've all got a coach. Everybody has somebody – whether it's knowledge, inspiration or that extra drive, but everybody has a coach. I have seen plenty of greats that have tried to hire that coach. I have seen plenty of greats that have lost that coach because they refuse to hire him where they thought they could replace somebody and just give him some money, and he'll be with them for a camp. Or more often, I refuse to pay him, so he's gone and I have somebody else. I just don't have one of those stories that has worked out." Time will tell on how things will work out for Topuria, but Sonnen isn't a fan of this system Topuria has put in place, which now has him training at home in Madrid. "For some reason, it doesn't sit well with me," Sonnen said. "I'm trying to predict, and I'm trying to foresee, and I'm thinking about these people coming into his house every day, and then they leave the house and then somebody has to go clean the room, and then it just gets annoying. We'll see how long this lasts. We'll see how long this works out."
USA Today
23-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Coach Jorge Climent details 'gentleman agreement' to split with Ilia Topuria
Coach Jorge Climent details 'gentleman agreement' to split with Ilia Topuria Coach Jorge Climent explains why he's no longer working with Ilia Topuria. Jorge Climent has been met with mixed emotions in recent days following his split with former UFC champion and longtime alumni Ilia Topuria. Climent, along with his brother Agustin, coached Topuria throughout his fighting career—from his early days as a teenager debuting in amateur MMA to defending the UFC featherweight title with a historic knockout over Max Holloway. Climent has been there every step of the way in Topuria's MMA journey. That's why their recently announced split comes with a wide range of emotions. "Professionally, it's painful," Climent told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. "But in another way, I feel liberated and good. I know everything is going to workout for him and for us as well. This is positive for them and us." The news of Topuria parting ways with Climent Club caught many by surprise, given their history and vast success in recent years. However, for both parties, it was something that was brewing for some time, as Topuria's stardom pushed him to move from Alicante, Spain – where Climent Club is based, to Madrid, the country's capital. A superstar in Spain, Topuria had many obligations and business that pulled him to Madrid, so he packed his thing and relocated with his family almost a year ago. "These things game up little by little, like 'We're not going to be able to this, we're not going to be able to that,'" Climent said. "Every time I have more and more trips. Last week, I was in PFL. In a little I'm going to Madrid because we have someone fighting, the week after that, Cage Warriors. We have almost 30 professional MMA fighters, and he needs something else. I have to be a little selfish because I've invested so much time in the gym, and all my life is here. So it was something that over time arose, and we treated it like adults and friends." Climent assures that the relationship with Topuria remains in good standing, and that there were no bad feelings in the split. It just didn't make sense logistically for either party. "There's a lot of people that like to give their opinions without knowing the reality," Climent explained. "This was a consensus. We have a lot of years of friendship. The management team came out saying that we were splitting, and all that, but the truth is that we're in Alicante, and they're in Madrid. I have my family, my gym, my students, and tons of projects that I have invested time in. I have my reality series, my MMA promotion. So Ilia left Alicante last year, he built a gym at his house, we got to accompany him in the camps, but had so many things to do in Madrid. His brother went with him. He has certain needs that I can't fulfill because I can't be permanently with him in Madrid like Javi did, the boxing trainer that is now living with them. "So we talked about it, we had a gentlemen agreement, we shook hands, and I'm proud of everything we did together. I'm very grateful to Ilia for everything he did in the sport and everything he gave us because it's true we also benefited from the point like our gym is full, the promotion is rolling, everything is good due to all we built. It was a great journey, and now he continues in search of another belt, and I'll continue forming champion. That's it." Topuria's rise in MMA has been meteoric in both it's impact and speed. Climent is amazed at how things have played out, and is very thankful for the experience. "What we've been through has been a roller coaster and super enriching," Climent said. "I've learned so much these last few years and lucky all this knowledge that I've gained I now can apply it to everyone that's here. We've all learned together. It wasn't a path that I carved, or he carved. Yes, we were older, and they were kids, but this journey we've done it together. We've opened so many doors. Actually, we've knocked down doors because nobody would open those doors for us. We came out of a place where there was nothing to having the best fighter in the world, created by our work. That's crazy." Topuria is scheduled to go for his second divisional title. After vacating the featherweight belt, Topuria was paired against Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 317 – which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 28.
USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Daniel Cormier questions Ilia Topuria's decision to split with team before UFC 317
Daniel Cormier questions Ilia Topuria's decision to split with team before UFC 317 Daniel Cormier thinks Ilia Topuria is making a mistake by splitting with his longtime team before UFC 317. Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has parted ways with coaches Jorge and Agustin Climent ahead of his vacant lightweight title fight against Charles Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) in the June 28 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). It was an amicable split, but the now Madrid resident is hours away from his team. Topuria had been training at Climent Club in Alicante, Spain since he was a teenager, which led him to a UFC featherweight title and back-to-back knockouts over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Cormier questions Topuria's decision to move on from the team who brought him so much success. "Ilia Topuria wants to fight Islam (Makhachev) but needs to get through Charles Oliveira first, especially when we are hearing that he and his team are kind of going in separate directions," Cormier said on his YouTube channel. "Just because of the schedule, they said it's no bad blood. I really don't know how, at this point, a month before what will be your opportunity to win a second title, how much effect that will have on Team Topuria. "If I'm Ilia, I'm still just using those guys because even if I have to do my training camp with someone else, I know that those guys know me so well, that if they can get with me for a week, two weeks, we are still so aligned – especially if there's no bad blood, we're still so aligned that we will get through the fight, and we will still be able to coexist. Not only coexist, but also we gel. This is the team that got him from a young, young man, to being 16-0 and a UFC champion. Beating the two greatest featherweights of all time. So to have that familiarity is very important to an athlete. ...To me, that's a little bit odd." For his UFC featherweight title defense against Max Holloway this past October at UFC 308, Topuria did his camp in Madrid with his coaches traveling back-and-forth between the two cities.
Irish Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Gaethje 'p****d' with UFC as Topuria vs Oliveira fight announced
UFC commentator Jon Anik has shared that lightweight ace Justin Gaethje was none too pleased when Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira was announced. The scrap is set for June 28 at UFC 317, after Islam Makhachev chose to drop the title and step up to welterweight, with an eye on a straight-up title tussle against new champ Jack Della Maddalena later in the year. Having relinquished the featherweight title earlier this year, Topuria's skipping ahead to a title fight once more as he targets two-division champion glory. While fans are all abuzz about the matchup, Gaethje feels overlooked and reckons it should be him in the title shot come next month. "He was p****d," Anik revealed on The Anik and Florian Podcast. "He feels like certainly he was passed over in favour of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria. I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, are looking for is just some sort of guarantee that they will be next. Because it's 19 May, and the good news for this Topuria-Oliveira fight is that it's f******g 28 June – it's less than six weeks away. "So, I don't think it's a mad request for Justin, having done what he did against Rafael Fiziev: staying on the fight card, not fighting Dan Hooker, getting a win, distance from the UFC 300 result.", reports the Mirror. Anik was referencing Gaethje's earlier victory over Fiziev this year - a match where the 'Highlight' stepped up following Dan Hooker's pullout. The American bounced back after a devastating last-second knockout defeat to Max Holloway. "And by the way, he fought [Holloway] at UFC 300 to help the UFC," Anik continued. "He could have fought for the undisputed championship at that point in time, so I wouldn't be surprised if Gaethje gets some sort of guarantee that he's next for the Topuria-Oliveira winner. But I can just tell you Justin was not thrilled." With the lightweight title bout just weeks away, Topuria recently shocked the MMA community when news broke that he has split from his lifelong coaches, Agustin and Jorge Climent. With the 28 year old well into his training camp, the announcement comes as quite the bombshell. The brother duo behind Climent Club in Alicante, Spain, have been pivotal in the training of 'El Matador' and his brother Aleksandre Topuria since their MMA beginnings. Following his featherweight championship win last year, Topuria made the decision to move from Alicante to Madrid. This shift is reported to have led to changes in his training routine. "Both sides live in different cities, and their multiple professional projects prevent them from collaborating as they once did," revealed MARCA. Topuria has expressed appreciation for his long-time guides, saying: "We thank them for all these years of mutual learning and growth, and they wholeheartedly wish them all the best in all their projects." With a looming fight against a Brazilian contender, Topuria's corner is poised to include his sibling Aleksandre, Jesus Gallo, Javi Climent – who isn't kin to the Climent brothers – Mani Tavanaei, and Mathias Ribeiro.
