Ilia Topuria says his UFC Freedom 250 camp for Justin Gaethje started by trying to think like Gaethje’s team.
During his appearance on DeepCut with VicBlends, Topuria explained how his team builds a fight camp once an opponent is confirmed. Topuria said the preparation starts by watching his own fights through the opponent’s eyes, building that opponent’s likely strategy, then designing his camp around taking those options away. The answer came as Topuria prepares for his UFC Freedom 250 fight with Justin Gaethje.
“It’s completely different, the preparation for every fighter,” Topuria said. “Every fighter.”
Topuria said that process began as soon as the Gaethje fight was confirmed.
“Once we get the confirmation that we were fighting with Justin, the first thing I used to do with my team is that we sit down in front of a screen and we go in like Justin’s team,” Topuria said. “Like we have to advise Justin how he has to fight against Ilia.”
Watch the full interview below. The Gaethje game-plan discussion starts around the 30:50 mark.
Topuria Says His Team Builds Camp Around Removing Gaethje’s Options
Topuria is unbeaten at 17-0 and has held UFC gold at featherweight and lightweight. Gaethje enters with a 27-5 record, two interim UFC lightweight title reigns, a former BMF title run, and one of the division’s most violent résumés.
Gaethje brings NCAA Division I wrestling roots, heavy leg kicks, pressure, and a long record of forcing opponents into damaging exchanges. Topuria said his team starts by building the fight from Gaethje’s side.
“We start watching my fights from the perspective of, we are Justin’s team,” Topuria said. “And we do the strategy of Justin. And based on Justin’s strategy, we make our strategy.”
Topuria then described the purpose of that approach in one line.
“Take away all his chances,” Topuria said.
He expanded on the process by explaining that the fight plan determines the training camp, not the other way around.
“First of all, we have to know how Justin and his team are going to think, how they are going to prepare themselves against me,” Topuria said. “Once we get to that realization, we build our strategy. We build our game plan.”
Topuria said the game plan then becomes the structure for his weekly schedule.
“Based on the game plan that we have, we build the whole training camp, the whole schedule,” Topuria said. “What we are going to do on Monday, on Thursday, on Wednesday, everything is based on the game plan.”
Gaethje’s danger is not hard to identify. He pressures, kicks hard, forces exchanges, and turns small defensive mistakes into damage. Topuria’s point was that his camp starts by mapping out those routes first, then building the training schedule around closing them before fight night.
The matchup sits inside a busy UFC Freedom 250 picture that has already included Arman Tsarukyan being named the backup and Topuria talking about other lightweight names. Against Gaethje, the plan Topuria described is narrower: study what Gaethje’s corner will try, remove those paths, and build the camp around that work.
