Max Holloway Calls Ilia Topuria a ‘Copycat’ of Conor McGregor Ahead of UFC 308 Showdown
Max Holloway will soon face Ilia Topuria for the featherweight crown at UFC 308. Ahead of this weekend’s showdown, ‘Blessed’ has said ‘El Matador’ is trying to copy Conor McGregor.
Max Holloway
Hawaii’s ‘Blessed’ Max Holloway captured the UFC featherweight championship with a series of wins against MMA legend Jose Aldo. He would lose this title over a trilogy against top pound-for-pound athlete Alexander Volkanovski. Alexander ‘The Great’ lost his crown to the Georgia-Spanish fighter Ilia Topuria by way of knockout. Now, on October 26, Holloway looks to recapture his throne.
Ilia Topuria trying to copy Conor McGregor
After a barrage of trash traded against one another, Holloways claims that Topuria is trying to copy ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. While speaking at a press conference, ‘Blessed’ explained:
“You gotta earn that right [to point down to the canvas], I don’t think [Topuria] deserves that right. You know the guy that he’s copycatting. This guy is a copycat, down to his tattoos, his aura, the way he’s approaching fights. The guy is a copycat, and your best friend’s [Conor McGregor] with the guy he’s following.”
Reddit user Ido-Portal compiled the following image to show the comparison between Ilia Topuria and Conor McGregor.
Discussing Conor McGregor, ‘El Matador’ would be potentially interested in a match but the Irish athlete has not been active. He explained:
“I wanted it before, but right now he seems to be retired. For how long he didn’t fight? For three or four years? Something like that … 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… Right now, Conor doesn’t represent anything else than drugs and alcohol.” [Ht MMAJunkie]
Similar to McGregor, Topuria is looking to retain his featherweight UFC world title and then jump up to lightweight to become a two-division champion. But before he can look too far into the future, Topuria has a major fight ahead of him in the form of Max Holloway who is just coming off a knockout win against Justin Gaethje.
