Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria are already showing a display of great rivalry. Topuria had previously tried to grab the featherweight belt as it sat on Volkanovski’s shoulder during a previous press conference. This time it was no different, and he may have just gotten away with it.

In the most recent UFC 298 press conference, Volkanovski compared Topuria to ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. He noted how ‘El Matador’ dressed similarly and attempted to embarrass his opponents like the Irishman, but not with similar success. And then Topuria pulled the sneaky move.

Ilia Topuria lifts the belt before defeating Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski wants to humble Ilia Topuria and believes that he’s just a “wannabe Conor McGregor. ‘Volk’ is playing along with all the jokes still. In a recent press conference, he came dressed as ‘Old Man Volk’ from his recent promotional video. Of course, the 27-year-old Topuria has implied that the champ has grown past his prime.

At the same time, Topuria’s attempts at provoking Volkanovski were all in vain, as ‘The Great’ was simply playing along with the jokes. Perhaps in the same bid to invoke a reaction, Topuria grabbed the featherweight belt sitting on Volkanovski’s desk just as he was talking about him doing it once before. “He took advantage of taking a photo with the belt. . . ” Just as ‘Volk’ finished his sentence, Topuria bounced off his seat and took the belt away once again.

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Clearly, ‘El Matador’ is as eager as one could get. And no one can blame him for it, the coveted featherweight title has been with Volkanovski for several years now. He has even beaten the likes of Jose Aldo and Max Holloway for it. Topuria is yet another young challenger in his way.

The 27-year-old is undefeated in his professional career. The 14-0 fighter is confident enough to even call out Conor McGregor ahead of his UFC 298 bout. ‘The Notorious’ is yet to come back to the Octagon but Topuria already has him in mind. Will he get his response?

Will he get McGregor’s attention?

Conor McGregor is yet to respond to Topuria’s comments. ‘El Matador’ called him out in an interview with Fight Hub TV where he called McGregor a “nobody” in the MMA world right now citing his absence and many losses in recent history. He could be talking about his last three career losses two of which came against Dustin Poirier. One of which was the infamous shin break.

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Meanwhile, the other could be the even more well-known loss against the man who put Dagestan on the map for MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov. After his loss to ‘The Eagle’, McGregor secured a win against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.

Either way, he’s still a fighter much farther above Topuria’s experience. Even Dana White is of the opinion that Volkanovski will be his first big-fight going forward. If ‘El-Matador’ ends up on the winning side of it, more opportunities could quickly show themselves.

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