Ilia Topuria joined a prestigious lineage of featherweight champions in the UFC at UFC 298. ‘El Matador’ knocked out Alexander Volkanovski viciously to join the likes of Jose Aldo, and Conor McGregor among others as a 145-pound champion in the UFC. As is the case with many fighters, Topuria’s journey started at a very young age. The Spanish champion dropped out of school in order to pursue his dream of becoming a world champion in mixed martial arts.
Jorge Climent, Topuria’s head coach since day one, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with The SportsRush. During the interview, he shared the story of how Ilia and his brother dropped out of school to pursue their dream of MMA gold. He said,
“Being like one year and talk with their fathers and they say we don’t want to go anymore to school we want to do this. Their father came to talk with us, ‘no they need to study’. I talked to them and explained, if they took this professional and came all the time to the school, if they are my son I allow it. They do it, they don’t go anymore to school They stay 24 hours in the gym… now we have the proof that they are different.”
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Jorge Climent and his brother Agustin have been training Topuria and his brother since their childhood. The Climent brothers moulded both Ilia and Aleksandre into elite mixed martial artists. While Ilia is a world champion, Aleksandre is set to make his UFC debut soon. It also speaks volumes of Climent’s confidence in Topuria at a very early age to be able to convince his father to let his son train in MMA full time. Surely, their talents would have been on display at a very early age for Climent to make that call.
A closer look at Ilia Topuria’s coaches Jorge and Agustin Climent
Jorge and Agustín Climent, the Argentinean brothers forming the core of Topuria’s training, are crucial in forming Ilia Topuria’s fighting style. As the proprietors of the Climent Club gym in Alicante, Spain, they offer an abundance of expertise in grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and other martial arts disciplines. Jorge had dreams of entering the UFC as a fighter but suffered a setback after he survived a motor crash. With as many as 16 surgeries, Jorge didn’t give up on his dreams and started Climent Club, where he trains the Topuria brothers till date.
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Under their tutelage, Topuria has achieved black belt status in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2018. Needless to say, the goal that both Topuria and Climent worked towards was achieved with style points at UFC 298. Topuria created history by becoming the first Spanish champion in the UFC. Now, it will be interesting to see whether Aleksandre can replicate the success or not.
