Ilia Topuria is a former featherweight champion (Photo / Reproduction Instagram UFC)
Charles of the Bronx may have gained a small advantage against Ilia Topuria before the UFC 317. It was recently announced that Spanish broke with his long-time coaches and will not continue his career under the training of the Climent Club team. To Chael Sonnen, that was not a good decision.
On his YouTube channel, the former fighter highlighted that all the great names in the sport have a coach behind them and, therefore, he does not believe that Topuria will be successful without Jorge and Agustin Climent. Sonnen reinforced that he has never seen a similar story succeed.
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“I’ve never seen anyone prepare like that. And I know a lot of people in a lot of sports who have tried… Mayweather has a coach, Tyson has a coach, Serena has a coach, LeBron has a coach, Kobe has a coach, Tiger Woods… everybody has a coach. Everybody has someone, whether it’s for knowledge, inspiration or that extra push. But everybody has a coach. I’ve seen a lot of greats lose their coach because they refused to hire him, thinking they could replace him with someone who would take a paycheck and stay for the camp. Or even worse: they refused to pay him, the coach left, and they brought in someone else. I’ve never seen one of those stories work out,” Sonnen said.
Topuria moved from Alicante, where Climent Club is based, to Madrid last year in search of better business opportunities. He tried to maintain remote training with the team, but the arrangement did not work for either party, leading to the split. Chael Sonnen expressed concern about the absence of a head coach just as the Spaniard is preparing for the most important fight of his career.
“For some reason, this doesn’t sit well with me. I’m trying to predict, trying to imagine, and I keep thinking about these people coming into his house every day, then leaving, and then someone has to clean the room, and it starts to get annoying. Let’s see how long this lasts. Let’s see if it works.” Chael Sonnen.
After winning the featherweight belt (up to 65,7 kg) by winning Alexander Volkanovsky and successfully defend the title against Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria decided to give up the throne and move up a category. Now, the Spaniard is looking to become lightweight champion (up to 70,2 kg) and will face Charles of the Bronx in the main fight of UFC 317, scheduled for June 28, during International Struggle Week.
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