Ilia Topuria has decided to leave his lifetime coaches just a month before his lightweight title bout against Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
Why Has Ilia Topuria Changed Coaches For UFC 317?
UFC 317 is set to take place on June 28, 2025 and former UFC featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, will make his debut at lightweight for the 155-pound title.
Former LW champion, Islam Makhachev, vacated his title to move up to welterweight and Makhachev’s next fight will be against Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title after the Australian won the gold from Belal Muhammad.
El Matador will be looking to win the lightweight gold at UFC 317 and is currently in fight camp with the fight being just over a month away – but the Spaniard has made a major change.
The knockout specialist has reportedly moved away from his lifelong coaching team of Augustin and Jorge Climent, who run the Climent Club in Alacante, Spain.
Topuria has trained at the gum for the entirety of his Mixed Martial Arts career, doing so with his brother Aleksandre Topuria who is also on a journey in the sport.
After achieving so much in a short period of time, Ilia Topuria caused a bit of tension in between himself and the two Climent brothers by moving from Alicante to Madrid.
A statement from Spanish outlet, MARCA, read: “Both sides live in different cities, and their multiple professional projects prevent them from collaborating as they once did.”
The Spanish-Georgian fighter did show his appreciation to his coaches, thanking the brothers for their time and effort to help Topuria reach UFC icon status.
Topuria said: “We thank them for all these years of mutual learning and growth, and they wholeheartedly wish them all the best in all their projects.”
This fight between Topuria and Oliveira is much needed, as the UFC is struggling to make big-name fights, with the biggest case of this being in the heavyweight division between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall.
Jon Jones says he told the UFC his plans a long-time ago , however a bout against Aspinall has shown no signs of occurring despite it being the only real option at HW.
Who Is Illia Topuria’s New Coach?
Obviously if Topuria is deciding to remove two names from his coaching team, then adjustments will have to be made in order to prepare for the biggest fight of his career.
According to reports, the 28-year-old is sticking with his original team, which consists of his brother Aleksandre, Jesu Gallo, Mani Tavanaei, Mathias Ribeiro and Javi Climent – with the latter sharing no relation to Augustin or Jorge.
Jesu Gallo joined Topuria in 2021 to help with strength and conditioning, Javi Climent has been the head coach for Topuria’s striking since 2018, while Mathias Ribeiro and Mani Tavanaei were brought in as BJJ coaches ahead of Topuria’s victory over Max Holloway.
