Ilia Topuria has only had a few in-person encounters with Conor McGregor … and they creep him out to this day.
In a resurfaced clip from an appearance on The Wild Project podcast, Topuria described the vibe he got from McGregor when they were both fighting on the same card at UFC 264 back in 2021. Topuria won his fight against Ryan Hall via devastating first round knockout (watch it here). That’s the same event that McGregor broke his leg in half fighting Dustin Poirier, and still hasn’t competed since (3.5 years later).
“Super bad vibes,” Topuria said flatly when asked to describe the embattled Irish sports star.
Ilia Topuria says that Conor McGregor has “terrible energy” and “his aura comes straight from HELL”
“I want to be away from this dude, he has a black energy, I never felt that before”pic.twitter.com/DOfoQbXF1d
— ACD MMA (@acdmma_) December 27, 2024
“Look, analyzing people as human beings, let’s look at Conor,” he continued. “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, put on a show.
“But, the feeling I had when he was around was, ‘Keep him away!’” Topuria continued. “Keep him away. Because you can be Conor McGregor and act however you want, but no one is above me, only God, you know what I’m saying? Congratulations on your career, I respect it. But don’t tell me a thing because I’ll take your head off.
“Just a terrible energy,” Topuria reiterated. “I swear it felt like his aura came from hell. I wanted to be away from this dude, he had a black energy I have never felt before. Agustin, my trainer, he’s a very spiritual guy. He’s very careful with the energies. He said, ‘This dude is gonna lose badly and split.’ He broke his leg that night.
“He brought an energy of hell, you know what I’m saying?” Topuria concluded.
McGregor came into his second fight with Poirier all smiles and cheer, only to suffer his first career knockout at the hands of “Diamond” at UFC 257 back in 2021 (watch it). So, he came into UFC 264 in full mental warfare mode, but his attacks on Poirier (and Poirier’s family) didn’t feel witty or sharp.
The whole thing just felt dark, and clearly Topuria could feel the energetic stink lines coming off McGregor as the two encountered each other at the fighter hotel and weigh-ins.
Topuria’s opinion of McGregor has only dropped since then, and “El Matador” has called “The Notorious” a mentally broken b—h who betrayed the values of martial arts. Those are fighting words, but unfortunately, it seems like McGregor is angling to fight Jake Paul or Logan Paul … not Topuria.
That about lines up with our expectations of the Irish sports star these days, which is sad.
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