Champion-level head coach Ray Longo believes Ilia Topuria will be fine as he transitions to a new gym, but also wonders why his old coach can’t be a part of the fight camp for Charles Oliveira.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) will move up to lightweight to fight for the vacant title against Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) in the main event of UFC 317. Not only is Topuria leaving the featherweight title behind, he’s also making a coaching change from Jorge and Agustin Climent as he settles into his own gym in Madrid, Spain.

While all parties involved say the split was amicable, UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier questioned the move, considering the team helped build Topuria into the star he is today. Cormier would like to see the Climents be a part of Topuria’s camp, even if it’s just for a short period. Longo, who has led multiple UFC fighters to championship gold, shares the same thought.

“I’m going to agree with Cormier, too,” Longo said on the “Anik & Florian Podcast.” “That coach can come in for one or two weeks and, I’m not saying make a big difference, but can hold to what they were doing. … Everybody makes this decision after they’re already on the top for a while, you know what I mean? Would he have made that decision as he was coming up when he really needed the guy? That’s where I get a little salty with this. Like hey, if you’re going to do it, do it at the beginning. I go back to what Teddy Atlas said to me in that interview, he said Gus Damato always told him, ‘What a guy does in the end, is what he always wanted to do in the beginning.'”

Longo has experienced dealing with fighters moving to a different gym in the middle of their championship runs, such as Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili. However, the difference is that they moved to Las Vegas to better deal with the COVID pandemic. The move was a necessity, but Longo remains in their corner to guide them on fight night, which appears not to be the case with Topuria and the Climent team.

“It’s probably what he always wanted to do,” Longo said. “I think we had a different situation. We all lived together; we were all two minutes from each other. I think it’s a totally different vibe. Without the COVID thing, there would have been no changes, and I would have loved to have seen what the gym could have did, because I do miss those guys, too. It was never really a business to me.”

Despite the changes, Longo believes Topuria will be fine going forward, at least for this upcoming fight against Oliveira. However, he would like to see the old team join the camp for a few days to maintain the familiar feeling in preparation.

“He looks like he’s squared away to me,” Longo said. “That’s why I say I think that guy can come in a week, two weeks. I think you just get that vibe right in the corner, and I think that guy’s on autopilot. … There’s certain cases where when there’s a lot of drama involved, then there’s other areas, right? Who knows? You don’t want to be stressed out one way or the other, in either direction. So, this one looks like it’s a mutual kind of thing where everybody’s got their own thing. I don’t know, definitely not this fight. I think he’ll be squared away with that.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Coach: Ilia Topuria may have ‘always wanted’ camp change

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