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When Ilia Topuria signed with the UFC, he was a 23 year-old prospect with only eight fights under his belt. He was undefeated, but still largely unproven on the international stage. Almost immediately, however, he marked himself out as no ordinary prospect.
A BJJ black belt with a background in Greco-Roman wrestling, Topuria quickly established a reputation as a dangerous puncher. He decimated the gritty Damon Jackson with a barrage of brutal body shots capped off with a single, devastating shot to the chin. He crushed fellow grappling ace Ryan Hall with ruthless ground-and-pound. He survived an early knockdown against Jai Herbert only to splatter the lanky Englishman against the fence in round two.
The story goes that Topuria modeled his boxing technique on that of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and it showed—except that Topuria was still a young man with a young man’s penchant for recklessness. Even as his boxing technique continued to improve, Topuria insisted on overthrowing, abandoning his defense in pursuit of the knockout. The man was an impressive prospect with all the potential for a bright future in MMA, but it seemed inevitable that he would have to get himself KO’d before he would ever be ready for a shot at the gold.
Josh Emmett set Ilia Topuria up for UFC 298 success
Then, last summer, Topuria found himself matched up with Josh Emmett, a superb athlete, a staple of the featherweight division’s top five, and one of the pound-for-pound hardest hitters in the sport. It was a massive step up for the now 27 year-old Georgian, and a prime opportunity to learn that harsh lesson his doubters were waiting for.
But instead of entering the cage looking like a kid who had watched Canelo Alvarez on Youtube, Topuria showed up looking like… well, pretty damn close to the real article. What followed were five of the most impressive rounds of 2023, and Topuria won every one of them without question.
Now Topuria is scheduled to battle featherweight great Alexander Volkanovski for the title, the belt which has sat comfortably about Volkanovski’s waist since 2019, almost a full year before Topuria ever set foot in the Octagon. It would have seemed an obvious misstep a year ago, way too much too soon for a young fighter yet to realize anything like his full potential. Now, however, it seems distinctly possible that Topuria will not only challenge Volkanovski, but defeat him.
And the only reason for this change in perspective was that one performance against Josh Emmett, a masterclass in boxing fundamentals and ruthless efficiency. So, let’s take a look at that fight, and try to determine if what we saw that night was not, in fact, the next king at 145 pounds.
Pivot. Just pivot.
What is the difference between a boxer and a mere puncher? You could wrack your brain for an hour and come up with well over a dozen plausible answers. Straight punching, head movement, tight defense—all sensible answers which nonetheless fail to hit the nail on the head.
Fortunately, we find a suitably succinct answer in one of the very first exchanges between Topuria and Emmett, further illustrated by the contrast between the two men: Emmett playing the part of the crude puncher, and Topuria the boxer.
What’s the difference? Positioning. Take a look.
1. Topuria advances cautiously.
2. Simultaneous jabs; both men step in on a diagonal, aiming to open up the other’s stance.
3. Topuria’s diagonal step is followed by a sidestep with the back foot—a pivot, turning him around the axis of his front foot until he is once more staring at Emmett down the barrel of his own lead hand.
4. Emmett does not pivot: his diagonal step was only intended to line up his right hand with the target—but by the time the punch is let go, Topuria’s pivot has taken him out Emmett’s sights.
Demonstrated here is perhaps the single most important technique in any boxer’s arsenal other than the jab. In fact, this maneuver may equal the jab in importance, as the two are inextricably linked, one enhancing the other.
What I am talking about is the pivot. A simple move: the fighter advances his lead foot on an angle and then, picking up his heel, swings his back leg around the fulcrum of that lead foot until he arrives back in his fundamental position, having changed nothing except which direction he is facing. Done well, the pivot is an extremely efficient movement, one during which the fighter can adjust quickly at virtually any point, as needed.
Simple, yes; efficient, yes; but powerful, extremely powerful.
In the above example, you can see just how effortlessly Topuria avoids Josh Emmett’s right hand. Sure, he reacts instinctively to the threat, but in point of fact he could have stopped moving, dropped both hands, and simply watched Emmett’s fist fly past his nose. Watch the linked GIF and see for yourself. Once Topuria has completed his pivot, he is completely safe.
Emmett’s punch is aimed at a target which is no longer there, but even had he managed to course-correct, his right hand would have missed entirely, or else landed with negligible effect. This is because Topuria’s pivot creates an angle—in other words, a position in which he is facing the opponent but the opponent is no longer facing him. In effect, that angle increases the distance between Emmett’s right hand and Topuria’s chin—but without actually stepping out of range. One little pivot and suddenly Topuria is simultaneously too far away to hit, and far too close for comfort…
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