“Ilia has like four nationalities” – Ilia Topuria overtaking Sean O’Malley in Instagram followers on fight week of UFC 299 leaves fight fans in splits

Newly-crowned UFC champion Ilia Topuria's popularity has been surging of late.

“Ilia has like four nationalities” – Ilia Topuria overtaking Sean O’Malley in Instagram followers on fight week of UFC 299 leaves fight fans in splits

Ilia Topuria passes Sean O'Malley on Instagram ( Image via Imago )

Ilia Topuria and Sean O’Malley‘s rivalry has reached a new pinnacle on social media. Topuria has crossed O’Malley in Instagram followers right ahead of O’Malley’s upcoming fight at UFC 299. Here is what happened:

Ilia Topuria has crossed over 4 million followers on Instagram while Sean O’Malley is currently at 3.9 million. Their rivalry started when O’Malley called out Topuria on social media. He said that Topuria was a “scared little boy” and that he would “put him to sleep” if they ever fought. Topuria responded by saying that O’Malley was a “clown” and that he would knock him out in the first round. They are both in different weight classes. Topuria is a featherweight, while O’Malley is a bantamweight. However, O’Malley has said that he is willing to move up to featherweight to fight Topuria.

YouTube video

Ilia Topuria became the new UFC featherweight champion at UFC 298. Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski which made him the first UFC champion to represent Spain and the first Georgian to win a title. Topuria’s nickname is “El Matador” and he lives and trains in Spain. He is the first Spaniard to enter the Top 15 of the UFC rankings. Recently, Spain’s government officially confirmed Topuria’s citizenship.

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Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley has a highly anticipated fight coming up against long-time rival Marlon “Chito” Vera. They will fight in the main event of UFC 299 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. The fight is a rematch of their 2020 UFC 252 bout, where Vera won by first-round TKO after damaging O’Malley’s leg with a kick.

Fans react to Ilia Topuria overtaking Sean O’Malley in Instagram followers

The news of Ilia Topuria surpassing Sean O’Malley in Instagram followers caught the attention of fans on social media. People went to the comment section to share their reactions to the video.

Ilia Topuria vs Sean O'Malley
Ilia Topuria vs Sean O’Malley ( Image via Imago )

Here are some of the reactions on X:

https://twitter.com/korruptrealodz/status/1764735986259366046
https://twitter.com/gg33_abdi/status/1764906394606571567
https://twitter.com/514_cap/status/1764747259214721268

People were definitely amused by this new development of Topuria and O’MAlley’s rivalry. Ilia Topuria fans took to the comment section to express their excitement at the worldwide appeal of the Spanish fighter. It will be interesting to see if Topuria and O’Malley’s online rivalry comes down to the octagon someday in the future.

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