Conor McGregor is a fighter who has rubbed some of his roster mates the wrong way at times. Based on a 10-month-old interview with Ilia Topuria on the Wild Project podcast, ‘El Matador’ is among the fighters who don’t find McGregor particularly likable.
During the course of the interview, Topuria was asked about his thoughts on the Irishman, with the interviewer punctuating his question with the added detail that fellow MMA journalist Gonzalo Campos had informed him that ‘El Matador’ felt something was amiss with McGregor when they first crossed paths.
Topuria was more than happy to answer the question about his first impressions of McGregor as a person.
“Super bad vibes! Look, analyzing 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. 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!”
Check out Ilia Topuria’s thoughts on Conor McGregor (0:13):
Both McGregor and Topuria are known for their featherweight exploits. While the Irishman captured the 145-pound strap in historic fashion by knocking José Aldo out in 13 seconds, ‘El Matador’ is still searching for his taste of UFC gold. His chance has come against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.
The pair will square off in a championship bout to determine who will reign over the division.
Conor McGregor’s most heated feuds in the UFC
Conor McGregor is a born and bred trash talker. For this reason and others, he has made many enemies during his time as a mixed martial artist. In the UFC, however, there are three foes with whom he had true enmity: Dustin Poirier, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Artem Lobov.
Poirier and McGregor feuded over the former publicly accusing the Irishman of walking back on his promised donation to The Good Fight Foundation. This drew McGregor’s ire, who responded by dragging his rivalry with Poirier to personal depths. The same is true for his issues with Nurmagomedov.
Throwback to the 30 minute war of words between these two at the UFC 229 press conference.😳
Will we ever see a more memorable press conference than the one we witnessed at the UFC 229 presser!🔥#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/XSWKzpDjrX
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) January 11, 2022
However, the source of his hatred for Nurmagomedov was the Dagestani legend’s decision to confront and slap Lobov, who was then a close friend of McGregor’s. Ironically, Lobov subsequently made himself an enemy of McGregor’s by suing him over disagreements regarding Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey as a business venture.