T.J. Dillashaw has a daring tackle UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Undefeated Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is coming off back-to-back knockouts of featherweight greats Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 and Max Holloway at UFC 308 in title fights.
Dillashaw doesn’t just see Topuria as the perfect boxer within the UFC.
“I believe Topuria’s the perfect fighter within the UFC at once,” Dillashaw said on the “JAXXON Podcast.”
Pound-for-pound over Jon Jones?
“I mean, not off of resume, no,” Dillashaw answered. “But off his skills, yes.”
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) is currently ranked No. 2 within the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, whereas Topuria sits at No. 4. Dillashaw, a former two-time UFC bantamweight champion, was asked how he would have approached Topuria if the 2 were to ever have fought. He admits he’d have a tough time.
“It’d be a tricky fight, dude,” Dillashaw said. “He’s a firecracker. I’d need to use what I used to be hoping Holloway was going to do is use some more angles, right? Never stand in front of the guy. He’s fast, his boxing’s crisp. I’d attempt to get outside his shoulders to try to change my stances up.
“Fight him orthodox and southpaw. I’d definitely be using my kicks so much more. Yeah, he can block kicks, however it keeps him at an additional distance, right, establishing my kicks. Yeah, I’d definitely attempt to wrestle with him. I’d say his striking’s more dangerous than his grappling, but his grappling’s great, as well.”
Topuria has recently teased a possible move as much as lightweight, where he made one appearance at UFC Fight Night 204 in March 2022 – scoring a thunderous knockout of Jai Herbert.
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