Las Vegas, NV — UFC 264’s Ilia Topuria has been waiting seven months to get back in the octagon, but the time off hasn’t bothered him too much.
“I’m okay to fight right now. I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m here to show it to everyone,” he told media outlets at Wednesday’s media day promoting the massive, Conor McGregor-topped card.
Topuria (10-0) has an interesting assignment this weekend: he’s been paired up against jiu-jitsu ace Ryan Hall. The Georgian fighter is not overly concerned competing against a black belt, however.
“In reality, he has a very rare style, but where I grow up in the gym, we have close to thirty black belts,” explained Topuria. “I have a lot of guys there who have a very similar style to him. So for me his style is very familiar. It was a nice opportunity, and we’re ready to get that win.”
“For me, he’s like a normal person. Nothing special for me,” Topuria later added. “Like I said, where I grew up, I have a lot of guys who have a very similar style to him.”
Topuria’s take on Hall, in fact, was at times downright critical. “He’s not so good, like everyone is talking about him,” he agreed when asked if Hall’s prowess on the ground was perhaps overstated.
That doesn’t mean he plans on rolling with Hall. But if it happens, it happens, seems to be Topuria’s thinking. “Of course I’m going to try to be in stand-up all the time, but I have no problem to go with him to the ground. Because if you see him, he has four fights in the UFC, and he has just one submission, against a BJ Penn who wasn’t the same guy we were watching like ten years ago,” Topuria exclaimed. “He was an older man. [Hall] got the submission, but he had another three fights, and it was like disgusting. I’m sorry.”
As for Hall’s stand-up? “Man, come on. He’s very bad in striking. He don’t have knockout power, he’s just like, sh*tty kicks and nothing else.”
Watch the full UFC 264 media day scrum with Ilia Topuria above. The event takes place this Saturday, July 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
