Ilia Topuria carved his face on Mt. Rushmore of the featherweight division and is well on his way to becoming an all-time great after his dominant outing at UFC 308. ‘El Matador’, of course, finally cracked Max Holloway‘s legendary chin by scoring a knockout win in the third round of their main event clash.

The first two rounds were reasonably close. But in the third, the Spanish-Georgian yet again proved his legendary power by first wobbling and then knocking out the BMF champ with the help of a beautiful left hook, living up to his promise of being “the first to knock out” ‘Blessed’. And his performance, of course, has impressed the UFC world, especially UFC commentator, former champ, and analyst Michael Bisping.

The Englishman couldn’t stop himself from gushing over Topuria in an interview with TNT Sports after the fight. ‘The Count’ went as far as to call Topuria’s left hook the very best in the UFC, better than even light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

“And yeah, okay, his power is different. We just spoke about that- the technique was sublime and I will say, better than Alex Pereira’s left hook, technically better. Alex Pereira’s just got this god-given power but the technique with which that [left hook] was delivered [by Topuria] was perfect,”  Bisping said.

Pereira’s left hook, of course, is the MMA equivalent of a touch of death, with the likes of Sean Strickland and Jiri Prochazka falling victim to it. But what makes Topuria’s power especially impressive is that he is knocking people out at a much lighter division. The champion’s success was in no small part because of how technically accurate the left hook that downed Holloway was. Along with this, Bisping pointed out another department where Topuria holds the edge.

Ilia Topuria’s secret weapon that sets him apart from Alex Pereira and led to UFC 308 success

Although not many people can make out from the way he fights, Ilia Topuria came into MMA with a Greco-Roman wrestling base and has earned a BJJ black belt over the years. In fact, the Spanish national claims that his wrestling is even better than his striking. And that is another department where he aces Alex Pereira, who is primarily a kickboxer and has no real ground game.

And that threat of takedowns, Bisping thinks, was one of the biggest reasons Topuria beat Holloway. Even though the champ took down ‘Blessed’ only once, that too in the very first round of their UFC 308 clash, it gave the BMF champ a lot more to worry about than just Topuria’s excellent striking ultimately leading to a TKO finish.

“He [Topuria] has the wrestling, he has the jiu-jitsu, he has the boxing. Of course, you put it all together, it’s a problem for anybody. And that’s partly why he was so successful in defeating Max Holloway tonight. Because we saw round one, took him down very very easily. So therefore Max Holloway’s mind is overloaded with what is the threat, what is the attack, what is the strategy going to be,” Bisping added.

What are your thoughts on Michael Bisping’s praise for Ilia Topuria’s left hook? Is it better than a fighter whose moniker stems from the brutal strength of his hands? Let us know in the comment section below!