Puria is aiming for the biggest star in the UFC.
New UFC featherweight champion Ilya Topria has called up MMA’s biggest star, Conor McGregor.
Shortly after KOing Alexander Volkanovski in Topuria in the main event of UFC 298 on Saturday. got the opportunity Topria will challenge McGregor to a fight in Spain, where he lives and trains.
“And Conor McGregor, if you still have the ball, I’ll be waiting for you in Spain,” Topuria said in the post-fight interview.
Like McGregor’s other challenges, this one seems highly unlikely. McGregor began his UFC career at featherweight, but hasn’t fought at 145 pounds since knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds more than eight years ago. Since then, McGregor has fought at lightweight and welterweight, and on rare occasions he decides to step into the Octagon.
McGregor has not fought since losing to Dustin Poirier via doctor stoppage at UFC 264 in July 2021. And despite McGregor and Michael Chandler coaching on The Ultimate Fighter last year, the two have never fought and may never fight. UFC CEO Dana White said the fight would “ultimately” take place recently, but said he was “hoping” it would take place in the fall. That means McGregor is 36 years old and more than three years have passed since his last fight. Chandler, who turns 38 in April, last fought in November 2022, when he lost by submission to Poirier at UFC 281.
Topria, on the other hand, is 27 years old and seems to have just entered the peak of her career. With the second-round stoppage victory over Volkanovski in his sixth featherweight title defense, Topuria improves to 15-0 in his career and has finished five of seven in the UFC. There should be plenty of challengers at featherweight, including Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez, who both lost to Volkanovski and were ranked higher than Topria at the time of Saturday’s title fight.