UFC featherweight king Ilia Topuria is just a few weeks away from his super fight scheduled in Abu Dhabi, where his crown will be on the line against BMF title holder Max Holloway. However, rather than focusing solely on his fight, ‘El Matador’ seems more inclined toward a verbal exchange with ‘Team Khabib.’ This trash talk escalated when he took a sharp jab at Umar Nurmagomedov, reminding him of his suspension due to PEDs, stating, “How’s it going with the drugs? Are you still on steroids?”

This caused quite a stir, prompting Team Khabib’s close friend, Belal Muhammad, to warn Topuria to watch his tongue. He said, “Be careful what you wish for, right? If you’re Ilia, you have a lot of fighters in your division you still need to face. Ilia’s reached a point where, being undefeated, he’s getting a lot of hype. Now he’s starting to call people out and play that game of trying to be the next [Conor] McGregor, but he shouldn’t mess with Islam.”

The situation reached Conor McGregor, who cannot stand disrespect from any ‘Team Khabib’ members. He quickly hammered the final nail in the coffin by posting a picture of Khabib Nurmagomedov on X, showing him looking scared during the infamous bus attack at the Barclays Center, which occurred after the conclusion of the UFC 223 media day when McGregor and his team attacked the ‘Team Khabib’ bus.

This backing from ‘The Notorious One’ to Ilia Topuria seems contradictory, considering that Topuria and McGregor have recently exchanged hateful comments. McGregor ignited the beef during a recent appearance on the “DuelBits” Livestream, where a fan asked him what he thought of ‘El Matador’ McGregor insulted him, stating, “I’d grab him by the scruff of the chest and slap that little nose off him, yeah. Little ding dong of a thing he is…” This prompted Topuria to take further action.

Ilia Topuria has some bold things to say to Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor once served as a great motivation for the upcoming generation of MMA fighters, including Georgian native Ilia Topuria, who debuted in the promotion aiming to become much like him. This admiration is even reflected in Topuria’s tattoos, which resemble McGregor’s. However, the situation has turned upside down, as McGregor is now more associated with controversy, party habits, and d-ugs, which have caused him multiple setbacks. Meanwhile, Topuria has established himself as the featherweight king.

When ‘Mystic Mac’ recently attempted to insult the featherweight king on a live stream via an MMA news outlet on Instagram, Topuria fired back with a mouth-shutting retort, saying, “F–k you, Conor. All day, every day… He’s not at my level. Otherwise, I’d gladly put these two knuckles in his brain to see if I could fix it and put his nose back in its place. When we cross paths, you won’t even want to look me in the eyes because you’re going to st yourself. F**king McChicken.”

Now all eyes are on “Team Khabib.” It will be intriguing to see how Conor McGregor’s arch-nemesis, Khabib Nurmagomedov, reacts to this latest insult, especially since he has chosen to remain silent on the Ilia Topuria-Islam Makhachev issue. It will be interesting to see how this event unfolds. Stay tuned for further updates.