Topuria is a big fan of the man McGregor was during his legendary rise in the sport. The McGregor we see today? Not so much.
Ilia Topuria isn’t a fan of the man Conor McGregor has become.
The new featherweight champion is on a similar path to McGregor when the Irish sports star rose through the ranks of the UFC. “El Matador” could become the next massive star for the sport with one more big win in front of his home country of Spain.
But while Topuria gives full respect to McGregor for his early accomplishments, he’s pretty scornful of the way things have gone for “The Notorious” over the past several years.
“I know he’s not what he was,” Topuria said in a resurfaced interview. “He is a McGregor who represents alcohol and drugs more than sport.”
“I was inspired by Conor, he was an inspiration for me when I was young,” he continued. “Myself and a lot of other people I know wanted to follow in his footsteps because he was an example of faith that everything can be achieved through hard work, consistency, and effort. And he lost all of that! Because he betrayed the values that led him to all his success.”
“It’s clear what we’re talking about, right? A guy that nowadays doesn’t represent the values that he used to represent years ago. We lost an idol!”
This may be hard for new fans of the sport to believe, but the Conor McGregor that cut through the featherweight division to knock out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds was a cocky but dedicated athlete who was laser focused on the craft of fighting and manifesting his goals with unparalleled intensity.
The current Conor McGregor was recently found guilty in a civil court of sexual assault, capping off a disastrous six years that has seen his MMA career and reputation crater due to repeated instances of poor behavior. Now he can’t even manage to get back in the cage, and some suspect it’s because he’s in no condition to compete due to all the drinking and partying he does.
UFC CEO Dana White has said he doesn’t expect McGregor to return to action until the end of 2025, which will mark four and a half years since he last competed. As for Topuria, the UFC is currently working on securing a venue in Spain for a big homecoming fight against Alexander Volkanovski. When exactly that will happen is uncertain, but it’s clear that the current trajectories of Ilia and Conor couldn’t be more different.