Current UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has opened up on his thoughts on Conor McGregor when the two first met prior to the Irishman’s UFC 264 loss to Dustin Poirier, claiming he felt ‘his aura came from hell.’
While speaking to ‘Glamtera Visuals’ via English subtitles, the Georgian shed light on his initial perception of the poster-boy of the UFC. When questioned about his thoughts on McGregor, ‘El Matador’ said he gave him “super bad vibes”, before admitting he could be wrong, saying: “Analysing people as human beings. Let’s look at Conor. A guy, his wife, his children, his family. I can’t give an opinion. I don’t know how these people are. He might be an excellent person and I perceived his energy in a different way from what it is.”
However, Topuria had a bad feeling about the former featherweight and lightweight champion, so much so, he wanted to separate himself from him.
“He simply came to work to put on a show, but the feeling I had when he was around was: Keep him away! Keep him away! Just a terrible energy. I swear, it felt like his aura came from hell. You know what I’m saying? I want to be away from this dude. He has black energy. I had never felt that before.”
It wasn’t just the fighter that felt negative energy from McGregor, his trainer also sensed a strange feeling. Speaking about his trainer’s thoughts, he relayed that “he’s a very spiritual guy. He’s very careful with the energies. He said: This dude is losing bad.” Agustin’s feeling came to fruition that night as McGregor was forced out due to a doctor’s stoppage following the first round after a missed left resulted in the Irishman’s left leg giving way underneath him, snapping in the process.
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Ilia Topuria & Conor McGregor’s professional MMA records (as of 29/12/24) |
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|---|---|---|
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Ilia Topuria |
Conor McGregor |
|
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Fights |
16 |
28 |
|
Wins |
16 |
22 |
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Losses |
0 |
6 |
It’s fair to say that ‘El Matador’ was less than pleased with the feeling he received for McGregor, while acknowledging his impact on the sport, stating: “Congratulations on your career, I respect it, but don’t tell me a thing because I’ll take your head off.”
Ilia Topuria & Conor McGregor’s Previous Beef
The two have exchanged verbals before with McGregor confident he’d beat him
The two have previously engaged in a war of words elsewhere. At a Bare Knuckle FC press conference back in July, McGregor confidently stated: “I’d slap him around, he’s too small, you know, I’m a big lad compared to Ilia. Topuria, boom boom boom, slap the head off him, no problem. No problemo. I’ll slap him back to Georgia.”
The reigning champion fired back in the build-up to his bout with Max Holloway, confirming how he believes that McGregor is “just not on my level, not at all. Otherwise, I’d gladly plant these knuckles in his brain to see if I could fix it and straighten his nose.” Taunting the Irishman further, he detailed how he would “dance on [McGregor’s] head. Conor’s problem is I’ll slap these nuts on his forehead, right here, and I’ll warm him up with this. Then I’ll throw him down and stomp on his head.”
The animosity between the two is palpable and, while the speculative rumours of a 2025 fight were dispelled as hearsay, it’s not to say that Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the UFC couldn’t see the two face-off further down the line.
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