Despite Conor McGregor claiming he would beat up Ilia Topuria, the latter has an uncharacteristically muted response for ‘Mac’. The first thing ‘El Matador’ did after stunning the world and knocking out the seemingly invincible Alexander Volkanovski this February, was to call out Conor McGregor, whose career has striking parallels to the Spaniard’s.

Since winning his featherweight title against ‘Volk’ at UFC 298 (and even before it), the Spaniard has been taking shots at the Irishman in his signature bombastic and cocky fashion. Which McGregor is seemingly fed up with. The Irishman’s animosity for Topuria was clear when he went on stage at a BKFC press conference to promote the upcoming BKFC 67 in Spain and promised to “slap around” Topuria in the near future. To which, the 135-pound champ has naturally seen fit to reply.

‘El Matador’ first of all, welcomed ‘Mac’ to Spain, and invited him to the metropolis of Madrid, where he lives and trains, promising to serve the Irishman a good old beating for dinner. “Pinky toe! Welcome to my home. It’s great seeing you working for us! Come to Madrid and we will see who slaps who. Topuria Knuckles for dinner !!!,” Topuria wrote in a tweet.

Topuria’s opener, “Pinky toe” of course, is a reference to Conor McGregor’s unfortunate injury that kept him from making his UFC return at UFC 303 last month, after three years of inactivity. But in his defense, ‘El Matador’ wasn’t the one who started it this time around. Topuria’s tweet also has many  fans curious as to what exactly ‘Mac’ said that got Topuria to promise him a knuckle-sandwich for dinner.

Conor McGregor thinks Ilia Topuria too small for him

While McGregor clearly does not like Ilia Topuria, he does seem to have some grudging respect for the featherweight champ (perhaps because he sees a bit of himself in the cocky and bombastic striking master). On being asked about Topuria ahead of the BKFC Spain card, the Irishman started off by admitting “he’s not bad.”

‘The Notorious’ pointed out that the Georgia native had “a boxing-heavy style,” which would probably “land well in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.” As for a fight between them, the Irishman went on to assert confidently as always that if they ever fought, “I’d slap him around” since the champ is “too small.” 

Indeed, the best bet for the two to fight would be in the BKFC, sometime in the future, when both are done with their MMA careers. Which McGregor is much closer to than ‘El Matador.’ The Dubliner, having fought four times in the past six years, losing all but one of them, coming off a serious injury, and getting up in age is not exactly a cracking matchup for the undefeated and seemingly invincible Topuria.

And unless McGregor gets, at the very least, a couple of impressive wins under his belt soon, there will be very few takers for a fight with the still-in-his-prime Topuria. But time seems to be working against McGregor.

What are your thoughts on Topuria’s tweet? Let us know in the comments.