Islam Makhachev: Ilia Topuria shares key advice for Jack Della Maddalena ahead of potential fight against Islam Makhachev: "Straight body shots"

Ilia Topuria recently shared his thoughts on Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev and offered advise for the welterweight champion. Topuria highlighted an area that the Australian can expose when he eventually defends his title against the former lightweight champion.

Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev was seemingly made official after the latter vacated his lightweight champion to move up to 170 pounds. Although a date has yet to be announced, the Dagestani will most likely receive an immediate title shot after his record-setting lightweight title reign.

Della Maddalena showcased improved takedown defense against Belal Muhammad and was able to force striking exchanges en route to a unanimous decision win.

Red Corner MMA posted a clip from Topuria's latest appearance on Main Event, which shows him praising Della Maddalena.

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'El Matador' mentioned that the reigning welterweight champion needs to utilize his striking and advised him to focus on body shots against Makhachev to address the threat of takedowns. He said:

"[Della Maddalena] needs to work the straight body shots because that takes away the intentions of the takedown. If he works with the straight body shots, he's gonna stop [Makhachev's] takedown. And he's doing a great job with his striking. I like the way he fights."

Check out Red Corner MMA's post featuring Ilia Topuria's comments here.

Ilia Topuria wants to move up to welterweight in the future

Ilia Topuria also disclosed that he plans to move up to welterweight in the future after capturing the lightweight championship.

In his latest appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Topuria mentioned that he isn't concerned about being at a size disadvantage and is confident in his abilities at 170 pounds.

"Yeah, [I could fight at welterweight], for sure that could happen. Listen, if you have a champion like Belal [Muhammad] or many names that I could bring right now, that's an easy path. Like, you could go slap him, get that title and that's it."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below:

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Giancarlo Aulino is an MMA news writer and interviewer at Sportskeeda. Having been onboard since 2021, Aulino has written list articles, before transitioning to MMA news writing.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi