Coach Jorge Climent details 'gentleman agreement' to split with Ilia Topuria
Coach Jorge Climent details 'gentleman agreement' to split with Ilia Topuria Coach Jorge Climent explains why he's no longer working with Ilia Topuria.
Jorge Climent has been met with mixed emotions in recent days following his split with former UFC champion and longtime alumni Ilia Topuria.
Climent, along with his brother Agustin, coached Topuria throughout his fighting career—from his early days as a teenager debuting in amateur MMA to defending the UFC featherweight title with a historic knockout over Max Holloway. Climent has been there every step of the way in Topuria's MMA journey. That's why their recently announced split comes with a wide range of emotions.
"Professionally, it's painful," Climent told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. "But in another way, I feel liberated and good. I know everything is going to workout for him and for us as well. This is positive for them and us."
The news of Topuria parting ways with Climent Club caught many by surprise, given their history and vast success in recent years. However, for both parties, it was something that was brewing for some time, as Topuria's stardom pushed him to move from Alicante, Spain – where Climent Club is based, to Madrid, the country's capital. A superstar in Spain, Topuria had many obligations and business that pulled him to Madrid, so he packed his thing and relocated with his family almost a year ago.
"These things game up little by little, like 'We're not going to be able to this, we're not going to be able to that,'" Climent said. "Every time I have more and more trips. Last week, I was in PFL. In a little I'm going to Madrid because we have someone fighting, the week after that, Cage Warriors. We have almost 30 professional MMA fighters, and he needs something else. I have to be a little selfish because I've invested so much time in the gym, and all my life is here. So it was something that over time arose, and we treated it like adults and friends."
Climent assures that the relationship with Topuria remains in good standing, and that there were no bad feelings in the split. It just didn't make sense logistically for either party.
"There's a lot of people that like to give their opinions without knowing the reality," Climent explained. "This was a consensus. We have a lot of years of friendship. The management team came out saying that we were splitting, and all that, but the truth is that we're in Alicante, and they're in Madrid. I have my family, my gym, my students, and tons of projects that I have invested time in. I have my reality series, my MMA promotion. So Ilia left Alicante last year, he built a gym at his house, we got to accompany him in the camps, but had so many things to do in Madrid. His brother went with him. He has certain needs that I can't fulfill because I can't be permanently with him in Madrid like Javi did, the boxing trainer that is now living with them.
"So we talked about it, we had a gentlemen agreement, we shook hands, and I'm proud of everything we did together. I'm very grateful to Ilia for everything he did in the sport and everything he gave us because it's true we also benefited from the point like our gym is full, the promotion is rolling, everything is good due to all we built. It was a great journey, and now he continues in search of another belt, and I'll continue forming champion. That's it."
Topuria's rise in MMA has been meteoric in both it's impact and speed. Climent is amazed at how things have played out, and is very thankful for the experience.
"What we've been through has been a roller coaster and super enriching," Climent said. "I've learned so much these last few years and lucky all this knowledge that I've gained I now can apply it to everyone that's here. We've all learned together. It wasn't a path that I carved, or he carved. Yes, we were older, and they were kids, but this journey we've done it together. We've opened so many doors. Actually, we've knocked down doors because nobody would open those doors for us. We came out of a place where there was nothing to having the best fighter in the world, created by our work. That's crazy."
Topuria is scheduled to go for his second divisional title. After vacating the featherweight belt, Topuria was paired against Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 317 – which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 28.
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