Ilia Topuria’s rise in the UFC featherweight division reminds Daniel Cormier of Conor McGregor.
Topuria is set to compete against Alex Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight championship at UFC 298 on February 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. ‘El Matador’ has been oozing with confidence in the lead up to the fight, putting the entire division on high-alert with his trash talking. Moreover, he already thinks that he is the division’s champion.
Topuria’s antics at featherweight remind Cormier of McGregor, who was just as confident if not more.
“It seems like all [Ilia Topuria] wants to do is put pressure on himself,” Cormier said while speaking on his YouTube Channel. “This dude has now said he’s releasing a movie on becoming the champion of the world, this dude has updated his [social media] bio with another win and he’s now the UFC featherweight champion, this dude has stated he wants to fight in the same stadium where Real Madrid plays football in Spain, this dude has said to anyone that will listen how Alexander Volkanovski can not compete with him. Most people under these circumstances want to release the pressure, not this dude.”
“[Topuria’s confidence] reminds me of Conor [McGregor] about to fight Jose Aldo. He told you, and he was so sure that he was going to get it done that you knew that if it happened, he would become a star that we’ve never seen in the UFC before or in fighting. So, when it happened, he went to the moon. I feel like Ilia Topuria is setting himself up to have that type of ascent if he can deliver on all of the promises that he is making.”
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier?
