UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria says there’s bigger fights for him than “nobody” Conor McGregor.
Ilia Topuria doesn’t expect Conor McGregor to return to the fight game anytime soon.
McGregor is just one of the few fights on the UFC Featherweight Champion’s wish list, but Topuria thinks that ship has sailed as a potential fight between the two grows more and more unrealistic with each new day as “The Notorious” still remains heavily inactive and weight classes apart.
McGregor, 36, hasn’t fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021. The Irishman was supposed to return three years later at UFC 303 this summer but withdrew from his fight against Michael Chandler due to a broken toe, putting another question mark on whether or not McGregor will ever fight again.
Ilia Topuria Says Conor McGregor ‘Seems To Be Retired’
Ilia Topuria’s been calling for a fight with McGregor subsequently after defeating Alexander Volkanovski to take McGregor’s once-held featherweight title at UFC 298. However, that doesn’t look to be the case for Topuria anymore as he approaches his first title defense against Max Holloway at UFC 308.
“I wanted it before, but right now [McGregor] seems to be retired,” Topuria told MMA Junkie. “For how long he didn’t fight? For three or four years? Something like that.”
McGregor has yet to hang up the gloves with the UFC star pushing for a December return against Michael Chandler, even though UFC CEO Dana White says McGregor fighting in 2024 isn’t all that likely.
“He Doesn’t Deserve To Share The Octagon With Me”
Retired or not, Topuria leaves the door open for a fight with McGregor even though he doesn’t think the former two-division champ deserves the opportunity to fight him at this stage of his career, coming off back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier and having one win since 2016.
“Once I’m going to see him back in the game – because right now at this point, he doesn’t deserve to share the octagon with me. I’m the world champion. He was, but right now he’s nobody. He’s not even ranked. So if he comes back, he puts himself into the rankings, why not?”
Other Fights For “El Matador”
Until then, Ilia Topuria is fielding more realistic options than McGregor like UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley, who has expressed interest in fighting Topuria for his featherweight title time and time again,.
“At this point, it’s like I have bigger fights ahead. The fight with Sean O’Malley is bigger. The fight with Max Holloway is bigger. The fight with Islam (Makhachev) is bigger,” Topuria mentioned the UFC Lightweight Champion.
“Right now, Conor doesn’t represent anything else than drugs and alcohol,” Topuria added.