Ilia Topuria’s continuous callouts of retired fighters and those not in his weight class have drawn the ire of one of the featherweight division’s most formidable foes.
Even before ‘El Matador’ strapped UFC gold around his waist courtesy of a shocking second-round knockout against Alexander Volkanovski in Anaheim, the 15-0 fighter made it clear that he wasn’t interested in fighting any of old timers at 145, including Brian Ortega and Max Holloway. Instead, Topuria has chosen to poke and prod a variety of fighters whom he’s likely to never meet in the Octagon.
He went straight after Conor McGregor in his UFC 298 post-fight interview before suggesting that he would squash Khabib Nurmagomedov’s undefeated streak like Lesnar vs. Taker at WrestleMania 30.
‘’I would be happy to enter the Octagon with Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Topuria said in a recent interview. “He had an undefeated record at 29-0 and he had an attractive record for me, then also history. He is a worthy and honorable champion for me.”
Far from done, the new featherweight king decided to direct his aim at another UFC champion — Islam Makhachev via a video clip on Instagram, which you can see below:
Ilia Toouria taunts Islam Makhachev on Instagram 👀pic.twitter.com/jm78TMB6Iz
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) February 26, 2024
Movsar Evloev is Growing Tired of Ilia Topuria’s McGregor-esque Gimmick
However, Ilia Topuria’s shenanigans didn’t go unnoticed. They attracted the attention of a very real problem for him in the featherweight division — the also undefeated, No. 5 ranked contender Movsar Evloev.
“Conor, Islam, Khabib, Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, Messi… Who else do you want to fight rather than the only undefeated fighter in your division?” Evloev fired back on social media.
Conor, Islam, Khabib, Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, Messi… Who else do you want to fight rather than the only undefeated fighter in your division? @Topuriailia https://t.co/xzUE8gRiZm
— Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC) February 26, 2024
We get that Ilia Topuria is just trying to take a page out of Conor McGregor’s playbook by calling out every other fighter, active or otherwise, who has a shred of cred. But with fighters like Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Movsar Evloev, and even Josh Emmett looking like world beaters in their last outings, ‘El Matador’ may want to focus more on keeping his belt instead of chasing down fighters who are long retired or outside of his weight class.
