Gabriel details origin of Topuria rivalry

TDT | Manama

One of Featherweight’s biggest fights seems inevitable at this point as Brazil’s Gabriel “Fly” and Ilia Topuria, from Spain, have continued to exchange insults since they first crossed paths, back at BRAVE CF 26, last September, in Colombia.

At the time, both men took on different opponents and came out victorious, and they have been on a collision course ever since. Gabriel has fought three times under the BRAVE CF banner, with two convincing wins and one hard-fought decision loss. Topuria, on the other hand, fought twice, finishing both Luis Gomez and Steven Gonçalves in the first round. The latest BRAVE CF Live Chats guest, Gabriel explained to executive director Gustavo Firmino the origins of the feud between him and his Spanish rival and was complimentary of his future foe’s skills, while predicting their eventual fight would be a “barnburner”.

“Ilia and I fought on the same card in Colombia. And we met in the training room on fight week. At first, I didn’t know he was in my division, I thought he was small for Featherweight. But there were these looks, we were sizing each other up because he could be my next opponent. After the fight, he wanted to call out the champ, saying he was the king of the. And I was like, wait a minute! You just got on the bus and you want a window seat? You wanna drive it? You have to go through me first!”, claimed “Fly”. Gabriel admits his rival is a very skilled fighter, as he’s undefeated with all of his wins coming by finishes.

The Brazilian also took notice that seven of Ilia’s eight victories came by way of submission, something they share in common as the CM System product has 13 of 14 wins by tap-out. “I’m sure Ilia is a high-level athlete, there are no easy fights at BRAVE CF, only badasses. I’m a black-belt in jiu-jitsu and most of his wins are by submission. I think this will be a very interesting fight. He’s been saying he’s going to slap me in the face, he’s going to break my face. So let’s go, let’s see what’s going to happen”.