Javier Mendez believes Ilia Topuria is the best boxer in all of MMA.
Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) has experienced a meteoric rise to stardom over the past few years. “El Matador” stormed through the featherweight rankings before knocking out Alexander Volkanovski to capture the 145-pound title in February 2024. He then successfully defended his belt that October, becoming the first fighter ever to knock out Max Holloway.
After vacating the featherweight championship and announcing a move up to 155 pounds, Topuria added Charles Oliveira to his growing list of victims, stopping the Brazilian legend at UFC 317 earlier this year — a victory that saw him claim the vacant UFC lightweight title.
American Kickboxing Academy head coach Mendez is adamant that Topuria possesses the most dangerous boxing in the world of mixed martial arts.
“Ilia Topuria, I would say, with him, stay out of boxing range — one million percent,” Mendez said on the Know Time YouTube channel. “Stay out of boxing range. He’s got the best boxing in the business, in MMA. He’s got it so much that he even thinks he can beat Terence Crawford. That’s how confident he is in his boxing. His boxing is good — real good. So, he’s got the best boxing in MMA.
“You’d need to work your kicks and angles with him,” Mendez continued. “Knees — Muay Thai would be a good specialty. But your biggest task is to keep him away from you. He’s got decent wrestling, too. And from people I’ve spoken to who train with him, he’s got decent jiu-jitsu as well. So he’s almost the complete package — but not quite. He lacks in the kicking department.
“The weakest link for him would be the kicking area. And then you have to test your grappling against his to see if yours is better. We’ve yet to see how great it is. It’s not great, but we’ve yet to see how good it really is.”
