Justin
Gaethje’s coach, Trevor Wittman, appreciates Aleksandre
Topuria’s cornerwork.
Gaethje (29-5) challenged Aleksandre’s brother, Ilia
Topuria (17-1), for the undisputed lightweight title at
UFC Freedom 250 last month. While Ilia was a massive favorite,
Gaethje viciously piled on the damage in the third and fourth
rounds.
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Despite showing immense grit to fight through Gaethje’s offense,
Ilia was barely able to see at the end of the fourth round,
prompting Aleksandre to force a stoppage before the fifth. Notably,
the ringside doctor seemingly came close to stopping the bout at
the end of the third round.
Trevor Wittman discusses Aleksandre Topuria’s decision to stop
Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje
Wittman lauds the concern that Aleksandre had for his brother.
While some of the conversations in the Topuria corner were lost in
translation, the veteran coach claims Ilia had made it clear that
he couldn’t continue after a point. Wittman believes an athlete’s
safety should be the primary concern of their cornerman, which was
the case for Aleksandre.
He said on the ONX Sport podcast: “Ilia’s brother did the right
thing to stop the fight. I didn’t hear what he said until I
understood that language, where he was like, ‘We’re gonna finish
the fight.’ He was talking to the ref, he wasn’t talking to Ilia.
So I took it as, Ilia was like, ‘Dude I can’t go on.’ And when you
hear that from your athlete, you have to make the right
choice.”