Former MMA fighter T.J Dillashaw criticized Alexander Volkanovski’s strategy against Ilia Topuria. Volkanovski is an absolute legend of the sport with a record of 26-4 in MMA and 13-3 in UFC but it came as a shock to his fans when he lost his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria by second-round knockout on Saturday’s UFC 298 main event at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
TJ Dillashaw comments on Volkanovski
Dillashaw questioned Volks’ approach in the fight and thought that the fighter seemed “scared” of Ilia Topuria.
“He was only throwing kicks. I know he was scared of the power,” Dillashaw said on the “JAXXON PODCAST.” “You can tell the way he was fighting, he was very scared of Topuria’s power, which he should be to an extent, but he’s never fought like that in the past. The first two rounds, all he was doing was throwing kicks.” Dillashaw said.
“He wasn’t setting them up. He was just throwing them. He was expecting Topuria to block them.”
“I was thinking he was trying to slow down his arms because every time you block a kick, it’s like getting a charley horse in your arm. Every time you get hit there, more blood comes to it. It slows his arms down.”
“So, I was thinking maybe he’s slowing down his arms by throwing kicks and getting him to block, because he wasn’t setting them up. He wasn’t throwing kicks to knock him out. You could tell because if he was trying to do that, you’d throw a combo, finish with a kick,hopefully catch him”
Dillashaw also blamed Volkanovski’s weak body language whenever Ilia Topuria went into offence
“Every time Topuria would get close, he’d be like backing out and leaning away,” Dillashaw continued. “As soon as I saw that, I was like, ‘Damn, he’s going to get caught.’ He was fighting scared. He was worried about the power. I’m a huge Volk fan.”
“I was wanting him to win. … He just kept leaning away, leaning away from everything and leaning away from the power.”
Dillashaw went on to praise Topuria and his fearless and composed style of boxing. Topuria impressed not only Dillashaw but millions of UFC fans around the world by knocking out a UFC legend like Alexander Volkanovski without even breaking a sweat.
SHARE
