What is Ilia Topuria's reach? Undefeated 13-0 Georgian has gone into all of his UFC fights at a reach disadvantage

This weekend’s UFC Fight Night features a headline bout pitting ranked featherweights Ilia Topuria and Josh Emmett against one another.

This fight is a big one for the 145lbs division. Emmett is currently ranked at No.5 in the featherweight division and recently fought for the interim title.

Topuria, meanwhile, is unbeaten in the octagon at 5-0 and stopped Bryce Mitchell in his last bout.

One interesting thing to note about the upcoming fight between Emmett and Topuria is that the former will enjoy a reach advantage of one inch.

While this doesn’t seem to be a big deal, it’s fascinating to note that ‘El Matador’ has been at a disadvantage when it comes to reach in all five of his prior trips to the octagon.

Like Emmett, Mitchell held a one-inch reach advantage over Topuria, but opponents such as Jai Herbert and Youssef Zalal enjoyed nearly 10 inches of reach on ‘El Matador’. Of course, this didn’t help them in the end.

There are two things that make this such a curious fact. Firstly, Topuria actually fought Herbert at 155lbs, and also gave up five inches of height to ‘The Black Country Banger’. This made his eventual KO win even more impressive.

Secondly, despite giving up some reach to Emmett this weekend, Topuria will actually be the taller fighter, standing at 5’8” to Emmett’s 5’6”.

The fact that ‘El Matador’ has shorter arms in comparison to his body than some of his contemporaries could go some way to explaining his freakish punching power, especially on the ground.

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Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria: Who else is fighting at the UFC event this weekend?

UFC Fight Night: Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria goes down this Saturday night from Jacksonville, Florida. It will air on the ABC network in the US.

Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria is not the only big fight on tap for this event, although there are not too many ranked fighters in action.

In the co-headliner, flyweights Amanda Ribas and Maycee Barber are set to face off. Fans will be keeping a close eye on this one after Barber’s last bout saw her win a controversial three-round decision over Andrea Lee.

Other fights on this weekend’s card include Austen Lane vs. Justin Tafa, David Onama vs. Gabriel Santos and Brendan Allen vs. Bruno Silva. Surprisingly, No.11 welterweight Neil Magny’s bout with Philip Rowe has been placed on the preliminary card.