Ilia Topuria Has Training Advice for Makhachev, Della Maddalena After UFC 322

Ilia Topuria believes both Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena need to work on certain things. 

Makhachev (28-1) challenged Maddalena (18-3) for the welterweight title in the main event at UFC 322 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The former lightweight champ dominated Maddalena on the ground for five rounds to earn a lopsided unanimous decision victory. Topuria was disappointed with Maddalena’s performance as a defending champion. “El Matador” invited Maddalena to his home country of Georgia to improve his wrestling. 

However, Topuria (17-0) thinks Makhachev also needs to work on certain aspects of personality, even if not his fighting skills. Topuria had originally been chasing a lightweight title fight against Makhachev when he vacated his featherweight title. However, Topuria won the vacant title against Charles Oliveira after Makhachev moved up to 170 pounds. Topuria has since teased a move up to welterweight if Makhachev beats Maddalena. Taking a dig at Makhachev after his win, Topuria said the Dagestani champ needs to work on his emotions. The undefeated Georgian-Spaniard is confident he can knockout Makhachev.

The Most Boring Thing in This Game

“Jack needs an entire camp dedicated just to wrestling. What a disappointment of a champion. You should go to Georgia to learn something,” Topuria wrote on X. “Islam, you need something you can’t train: emotion. You’re the most boring thing in this game. Every day I’m more certain I put you to sleep.”

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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