Javier Mendez sees Ilia Topuria having a tough time with Islam Makhachev on the ground.
After becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway at UFC 308, featherweight champion Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) continued to express interest in a fight with lightweight champion Makhachev.
Topuria is confident that he can submit Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC), but American Kickboxing Academy head coach Mendez thinks it wouldn’t be wise for Topuria to tangle with Makhachev on the ground.
“That would be an area I’d be foolish to want to try to go up against, boxing for boxing,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “That’s not a smart move, you know? And it just would be like, if Ilia decided to go submission for submission with Islam, that’s not a smart move on his part either. So it’s all strategy and how you approach it, how your fighter approaches it and, what mistakes you can correct while the fight is going on.
“That’s what I think is more important than anything. When the fight does get matched, it’s just your game plan, your strategy, executing it. Whether he can hang with Islam or not on the ground, I would have to say no. Based on what I see with everybody and Islam. The only person that really did the most with him was Khabib, and at the end of the day, the longer you grapple with Islam, the worse it’s going to get.”
Mendez dubbed Topuria as the best boxer in all of MMA, and even though Makhachev has proven he can stand with the best, he wouldn’t advise him to do so against Topuria.
“I mean, when he took Max down with ease in the first round, I said, ‘That’s the way you fight MMA,’ and he has a very strong stand-up game,” Mendez said of Topuria. “I would think that he’s probably the best boxer in the whole entire division. He’s really crisp and very on point with his boxing, and therefore you see how he uses it really, really well. He’s a complete fighter, but his boxing, I think, is his best attribute out of everything he does. He’s impressive, very impressive.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
