Demetrious Johnson gives his thoughts on how Ilia Topuria could be beaten

UFC legend Demetrious Johnson has given his thoughts on how someone – perhaps Charles Oliveira – could defeat Ilia Topuria.

As we know, Ilia Topuria is easily one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts right now. The former UFC featherweight champion has made the move up to lightweight in search of a second world title, and he’ll face Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 for the right to earn that belt. As you can imagine, there’s a great deal of intrigue behind this contest.

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The majority of people believe that Topuria stands a great chance of overcoming Oliveira and becoming the new lightweight king. Of course, a lot of that stems from his blockbuster wins over Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, both of which put him on the map in an insanely big way.

In a recent video, Demetrious Johnson gave his opinion on how someone could go about defeating Topuria.

Johnson’s view on Topuria

“I think somebody who is able to expose him – like he’s very good at that range, of that slow, check, slow, check, and he gets in there, and he throws like five-punch combinations,” Johnson said in an interview with Tim Welch.

“But once somebody gets him in that clinch, that area, that’s where I think we will see how he reacts, because when you get in that clinch. … I feel like that area we haven’t seen him fight, and if Charles can get him there – obviously if he grabs the clinch, he can go body, body, head. But, when he does body, body, head, you can still bang him with a knee so, it’s a give and take. If Charles can get him there, it will be interesting to see what happens.”

“If I was to fight Ilia, I would fight him in the clinch,” Johnson added, “It’s like, ‘OK, outside he hits too hard, he’s going to stalk me. If I shoot, he’s going to defend, and then he’s going to back up, or he might try to take me down. What would he do in the clinch?’ Because I know he’s going to go body, body, and I’m going to go elbow. That’s where I’m like I want to see what he would do.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie