Conor McGregor was once known for his willingness to take on huge challenges, a trait he doesn’t believe Ilia Topuria shares.
Topuria, the UFC’s reigning featherweight champion, recently discussed a move up to 155 pounds to potentially challenge Charles Oliveira for a shot at lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. It’s not the first time Topuria has discussed the possibility of changing divisions as he previously drew the ire of welterweight champion Belal Muhammad when Topuria boasted he could jump up to 170 pounds for a third title someday.
That’s a risk McGregor took in 2016, when he went from featherweight to welterweight for a pair of memorable bouts with Nate Diaz. It was Diaz who sparked the feud, calling McGregor out after a win over Michael Johnson, and the unlikely pairing came to fruition when then-lightweight champion Rafael does Anjos pulled out of a defense against McGregor at UFC 196 due to injury and Diaz took his place.
On Friday, McGregor responded to a fan asking if Topuria would ever fight under the same circumstances, writing, “Never, he has the balls of a kitten.”
And straight away the fight was made. 145lb World Champion up to 170lb.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 19, 2024
Let’s go! #RealFightersOnly https://t.co/RFIyw0ldVh
Never, he has the balls of a kitten. https://t.co/2v3XVXRJet
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 20, 2024
McGregor suffered his first UFC loss to Diaz at UFC 196, losing via a shocking second-round submission, but he rebounded with a majority decision win in their rematch at UFC 202. The feud did massive box office numbers for the promotion and served to elevate the profiles of both fighters to another level of mainstream notoriety.
In more recent years, McGregor’s reputation has plummeted with just four fights and one win since 2018, in addition to various outside-of-the-cage embarrassments. The 36-year-old was recently found liable for sexual assault in a civil case tied to a December 2018 incident.
Topuria is coming off a banner year where he claimed the featherweight title with a stunning knockout of Alexander Volkanovski in February and followed that up with a knockout of another legend in Max Holloway. With those wins, the undefeated Topuria became the first fighter to defeat Volkanovski in a 145-pound bout and then the first fighter to finish Holloway via strikes.
