Conor McGregor’s legal troubles have begun hampering his return to the Octagon. He used to be one of the fighters that every single contender wanted to go up against. But all of that changed within a fortnight, as he lost the civil case filed against him by Nikita Hand. Even Ilia Topuria, who recently came into the spotlight for seemingly copying McGregor, has now refused to take him on inside the Octagon. 

On the 5th of December, the featherweight champion had an hour-long conversation with Josep Pedrerol on El Chiringuito TV. Therein, ‘El Matador’ revealed his opinion of fighting the ‘Mystic Mac’ upon his return to the UFC. But let me tell you. It doesn’t go well for McGregor. He said, “It interested me, but it doesn’t anymore. He’s going through very serious personal problems. I have no desire to share the Octagon with someone like that.” 

Even Dana White refused to talk about him during the UFC 310 post-fight press conference. When asked to talk about his reaction to the Irishman’s legal troubles, the UFC head honcho replied, “What do you mean, what’s my reaction? If I had a comment, I would have put it out already.” But the UFC’s doors weren’t completely shut for the ‘Mystic Mac’. White went on, “He hasn’t been fighting here in, I don’t know how long. Well, if he does fight, it’ll be sometime next year.”

Of course, this wasn’t the first time Topuria refused a fight against McGregor. Earlier in October, during his appearance on the YouTuber Ibai’s channel, the 145-pound kingpin said, “I wouldn’t like to fight [Conor] McGregor. I mean, McGregor would be an option if I could fight him. But right now, I’m telling you that if they offered me a fight with him, I’d say, ‘No’, because there are bigger fights than him.” And the reason? It was all because ‘The Notorious’ lost his values that got him to the top. “We have lost an idol,” was all Topuria had to say after that.

These responses certainly paint a worrying picture of the Irishman’s future in the Octagon. This is a far cry from the canceled fight at UFC 303; will it be the closest we ever get to Mystic Mac’s return?

As for Ilia Topuria and Conor McGregor, the pair even took to social media and engaged in an online war. The Irishman refused to accept that ‘El Matador’ was a Spaniard, and Topuria lashed back at McGregor. This happened when the Dubliner brought BKFC to Spain. The netizens began to suspect that the current featherweight champ would take on the former champ. But alas! Things rarely go the way we plan! 

Nevertheless, the fighting community kept on comparing McGregor with Topuria. And Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, Javier Mendez, was one of them. The AKA head coach seemed to believe that the Spanish fighter was already better than the Irishman.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach points out why Ilia Topuria has a greater legacy than Conor McGregor

The head coach at American Kickboxing Academy has seldom stood in support of McGregor. And the trend continued when he compared him with the current featherweight champion. He said, “Conor did, you know, he was the man at 145, and you know he did he did unbelievable, you know. So that was probably his [McGregor’s] best weight for showcasing his skills. But I think Topuria like I said, is above him skill-wise because he’s the all-around pitcher. Conor was not a grappler as much, you know. He didn’t take people down, he mostly did the stand-up. But Topuria could do it all.”

Well, the Spaniard is indeed pretty exciting to listen to while trash-talking. A trait that’s similar to that of McGregor’s. But when it comes to fighting, just like Mendez said, Topuria’s ground game puts him on a higher pedestal. On top of that,  McGregor has remained out of action for more than 3 years now. But Topuria managed to defeat two of the strongest featherweights, Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, within the span of a single year. 

And as far as McGregor’s return to the UFC was concerned, he can only return once he clears his name from the legal issues. The jury found him liable to pay in damages, and Mr. Justice Alexander Owens ordered him to pay about $1.5 million to Hand for legal fees. This definitely did not help McGregor and further tarnished his public image. 

What are your thoughts on Topuria’s take on McGregor? Do you think the duo should fight regardless of the legal issues? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.