“He was quiet and humble before shot at title” – Ilia Topuria’s comment about Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez, and Brian Ortega leaves MMA community fuming

Out-of-commission Conor McGregor is a better prospect for Ilia Topuria, than current featherweight peers, which angers fans.

“He was quiet and humble before shot at title” – Ilia Topuria’s comment about Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez, and Brian Ortega leaves MMA community fuming

Featherweight title contender Ilia Topuria offers harsh reality check to future opponents (Source: Twitter/IMAGO)

Undefeated UFC contender, Ilia Topuria, has more than earned his label of a cocky challenger. Topuria challenges featherweight champ, Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 298 headliner on Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Ahead of which, the Spaniard already has an ice-cold repartee on a potential rematch for the Aussie. Topuria predicts with a first-round KO in the bout, there’s no need for an immediate rematch.

This was in conversation with The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani. Other than that, he ripped Paddy Pimblett on his last amateurish fight. He also aspired to give Conor McGregor a ‘red panty night’ at a Spanish mega fight. In a recent sitdown with ‘KOlmenero‘, the fighter had already claimed he could knock out Conor McGregor in any weight class. Concurrently, favoring the Dubliner, here’s how he has snubbed contenders in his conversation:

I’m gonna beat a guy [Volk] that whooped his a*s [Holloway] three times, how? It doesn’t make any sense...Max, Yair [Rodriguez], Brian Ortega, all of them, they can go and retire. I’m never going to give them the chance to fight for the title – never.
Ilia Topuria via The MMA Hour
YouTube video

Fighting for the “BMF” title, Max Holloway is making a move back to the 155lbs weight class after 5 years. However, with Topuria dousing fighting words to everybody other than Alexander Volkanovski himself, Holloway might have a say in it. Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega have also come up in his reject pile. One fan reacted “Weird how he was quiet and humble before his shot at the title, now he’s a rubbish Conor talker.“

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Topuria quickly shut it down when former champ, Holloway came up in conversation as a great maiden defense. Volkanovski is the five-time defending champion; even then he had prompted that Volkanovski would be one of the easiest fights of his career. So there’s no surprise in him disregarding other divisional peers.

Fight fans react to Ilia Topuria being dismissive of opponents for probable title defense

Undefeated 145lber, Ilia Topuria faces Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski at UFC 298, for the title gold. Ahead of this though, the Spaniard has been doing social media rounds in the lead-up. Topuria recently had a sitdown with ‘The MMA Hour‘ wherein he disregarded a handful of opponents for his maiden defense, should he win.

Ilia Topuria's overconfidence, ahead of UFC 298 clashdown with Alexander Volkanovski, angers fans
Ilia Topuria’s overconfidence, ahead of UFC 298 clash with Alexander Volkanovski, angers fans (Source: Twitter)

And here’s how the combat sports bubble has reacted to the matter –

Fuelled by Alexander Volkanovski’s ‘more motivated than ever’ training montage for title defense, a lot of fans have remained hyped on the matchup. Especially on the prospect of the reigning champion to school Topuria; a sentiment they have expressed yet again.

A lot of fans have sneered at the title challenger for his restricted proposition. Some have even nudged that he should immediately be stripped of his title belt, should he win and choose to not defend against the top contenders.

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