Aljamain Sterling thinks Ilia Topuria has proven too unstoppable to lose at UFC 317.
Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who relinquished the featherweight title in February, meets former champion Charles Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) for the vacant lightweight title in the June 28 headliner from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Topuria is coming off back-to-back knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway in title fights. With Topuria’s power and Oliveira’s tendency to take damage in fights, Sterling worries for the Brazilian.
“Oliveira gets dropped every fight – just about every fight … the last eight fights I would say,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “With that said, we know Ilia Topuria can crack. We’ve seen him get dropped before by Jai Herbert, came back. That was the first time he fought at 155. He says he feels better at 155, his power is way different at 155. We know he could already crack at ’45.
“How is that power going to translate into at 155? If he could touch Charles the way he hits everybody else, I think it’s a bad night, and I think Ilia is a two-division champion. But the grappling department, we haven’t seen anyone force the grappling issue against Ilia, and I wonder if ‘Do Bronx’ will try to do that to see if he can gas him out, and take away some of the pop from his punches.”
Oliveira is no stranger to defying the odds. He holds finishes over the likes of Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Beneil Dariush and Michael Chandler, but Sterling sees Topuria in prime form.
“This is a hard one,” Sterling said. “I like Ilia in this one, but it’s hard to count out ‘Do Bronx.’ ‘Do Bronx,’ I still think, he’s him. But then I said that about Max (Holloway), I said that about Volk. I’m not saying that those guys were going to win against Ilia, but you say that those guys are still ‘them,’ and then Ilia goes out and does that to them. You’re like, f*ck. Who’s stopping this guy?”
