UFC commentator Daniel Cormier has praised Ilia Topuria as a breakout star at featherweight following his win over the weekend.
Last Saturday night, Ilia Topuria made a real statement. He battered and bruised Josh Emmett, coming away with the biggest win of his career so far. It proved he can go five rounds, it proved he can mix things up, and it proved he’s a genuine contender at 145 pounds.
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Of course, there’s still a decent road ahead before he can become champion. Some feel like he should get the winner of Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez, whereas others want to see him go through Max Holloway.
There are plenty of options out there for the 26-year-old. In the mind of Daniel Cormier, he’s also paving the way for a whole new generation in MMA.
“He’s young. He’s like 25 years old or 26 years old. He hasn’t fought much,” Cormier said. “The only thing that you could even take as a negative was he didn’t do the fighter meetings because he was cutting weight. That’s literally the only misstep. He had to get his weight down, and that’s not really a misstep.
