Aleksandre Topuria has been a pivotal part in UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria‘s success.
Aleksandre once put his professional MMA career to the side to help his younger brother Ilia (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) rise to the top. He resumed his career in 2021, and is now 2-0 in the UFC.
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Topuria meets Justin Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) in a title-unification bout, which headlines UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 from the White House. Aleksandre helped his brother Ilia break down Gaethje’s game, while highlighting what he should look out for.
“One important thing: Justin Gaethje picks his shots when you stand in front of him,” Topuria said on Ilia’s YouTube channel (h/t Championship Rounds). “When you stand here, which is like Michael Chandler, and he also picks when Michael Chandler (leaned forward), when you stand with the leg way forward trying to dodge his uppercut, then he comes in with calf kicks. But when you stand a bit square on, he comes in with uppercuts. If you don’t want to take it and you show him, ‘OK, I’ll move my body forward,’ then he’s going to want to start hitting you from here because he has long range.
“He’s very fragile when he hits, but it’s a double-edged sword to choose to hit him when he’s hitting. So you’ve got to be very selective with your shots. When he hits is when he’s very vulnerable to shots because he doesn’t know how to hit clean. He doesn’t hit clean like you. He hits with everything. That’s where he’s vulnerable. But that’s where you have to be careful: If you choose to hit him when he’s open, it’s because you’ve calculated it a lot.”
Topuria, who is coming off knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira, is a big favorite over interim champion Gaethje.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Freedom 250: Ilia Topuria’s brother breaks down Justin Gaethje
