UFC welterweight Kelvin Gastelum compared Ilia Topuria to Conor McGregor following UFC 298.
On February 17, the UFC featherweight division started a new chapter when Topuria dethroned Alexander Volkanovski with a second-round knockout. Topuria’s win in the UFC 298 main event extended his professional MMA record to 15-0, with seven fights inside the Octagon.
Topuria was underestimated by many fighters and analysts, including Kelvin Gastelum. The 32-year-old welterweight recently shared a UFC 298 reaction video on his YouTube channel and had this to say about ‘El Matador’:
“I was blown away like many of you I’m sure were. I was dead, dead wrong on my pick, and Ilia [Topuria] came out and showed out. It was very impressive to watch…Ilia came out looking like a calculated killer. He didn’t do too much. He didn’t throw just to throw. He didn’t panic when things weren’t going his way because in that first round, Volk came out amazing…That’s what impressed me the most though. Ilia came out and stayed calm, cool, and collected and didn’t try to change his approach.”
Ilia Topuria’s confidence before UFC 298 was often compared to Conor McGregor heading into his breakout moment against Jose Aldo in 2015. Kelvin Gastelum made a similar comparison in his YouTube video by saying:
“There’s a lot of similarities I saw between him and the time Conor McGregor was taking over that division. When he came out and was talking all that cr*p, and he had all of Ireland behind him and snatched that belt and so did Ilia. Ilia has been following those same footsteps.”
Watch Gastelum’s video about Topuria below:
Kelvin Gastelum suggests Ilia Topuria vs. Yair Rodriguez could take place inside the Sphere
On Saturday, February 24, the UFC will return to Mexico City with Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega matched up for a rematch in the co-main event. Although nothing has been confirmed, there is a possibility that Rodriguez could earn a featherweight title shot against Ilia Topuria with a win later this week.
During the previously mentioned YouTube video, Kelvin Gastelum had this to say about Topuria and Rodriguez potentially fighting on Mexican Independence Day inside the Sphere:
“This fight with Ilia and Yair [Rodriguez] could be a very exciting fight. They could also do it in the Sphere, right? Mexican Independence Day, Mexicans fought off the Spanish for their independence. This could be a cool buildup. I don’t know if they want to get into all that politics stuff. There’s a cool buildup if they decide to do it and go that route.”
It should be noted that Ilia Topuria and Dana White are currently interested in different plans for the former’s first featherweight title defense. Due to Topuria’s star power, the UFC is looking into hosting an event inside Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.
