Ilia Topuria’s rise to the title triumph in the UFC closely resembled Conor McGregor’s rise to become the featherweight champion. Both knocked out long-reigning champions like Alexander Volkanovski and Jose Aldo, respectively, to become the undisputed king at 145lbs.
Interestingly, ‘El Matador’ called out ‘the Notorious’ after dethroning ‘the Great.’ The duo had a social media skirmish, but the UFC had no interest in the potential fight. With the Irishman’s withdrawal from UFC 303, the Georgian seemed to have lost interest in the fight.
Topuria Questions McGregor’s Commitment to Training
Ilia Topuria recently spoke with Marca, preluding his much anticipated first title defense, potentially against Max Holloway. The 27-year-old blamed ‘Blessed‘ for delaying his next fight and talked about McGregor, criticizing the Irishman and revealing his disinterest in a potential battle.
“[Conor] he’s already lost. He’s already very weak… he no longer has the self-confidence like he had before…He had confidence in his preparation… all the effort he put into his preparation and improvement. Right now he doesn’t do it so he doesn’t have confidence anymore,” said Topuria.
“He lost confidence in himself, in his abilities, in everything, and he resorts to any excuse to not get inside the octagon,” the featherweight champion added, subtly hinting McGregor was looking for a reason to withdraw from UFC 303 and did it after a minor injury like a toe fracture.
A potential matchup between Topuria and McGregor will do massive numbers in Europe. Topuria is now a gigantic star in Georgia and Spain. Moreover, Dana White had already revealed their plans to put a PPV in Spain, potentially in a big stadium.
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