Conor McGregor deletes reaction to Ilia Topuria's KO over Charles Oliveira
Conor McGregor was quick to praise Ilia Topuria after his sensational victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 on Saturday night.
It took just over two minutes for 'El Matador' to become the new lightweight champion of the world. From the off, the pair were willing to meet in the middle and trade leather before Topuria detonated a right hand that stopped the Brazilian.
Following the breathtaking win in Las Vegas, the 28-year-old extended his perfect record to 17-0. He also joined names like McGregor in the list of fighters who have won a title in two different weight classes. Itching for at least one more fight this year, Topuria was quick to call Paddy Pimblett out.
Both exchanged verbal blows before 'El Matador' shoved the Liverpudlian. With a fight potentially on the card, many were quick to offer their verdict. McGregor, who watched the event closely, soon publicly shared his thoughts on the aftermath of the bout.
In a since-deleted X - formerly Twitter - post, he said: "Congrats on winning my old titles, Ilia!" - referring to his past double-champion status in 2016. "He said he gonna rest his b**** on Paddy's head too hahah fair play. Good [lightweight] scrap that one is as well [in my opinion]. UFC is back? Or still missing something..? [Three] KO back-to-back is very good. No one can deny the knockout. I like [Topuria] Unlucky to Charles also. Styles make fights! You are a tremendous and legendary UFC fighter. Rest up."
McGregor seems to have had a change of heart regarding Topuria after their heated exchange last October. The Irish fighter lashed out at Topuria during a Duelbits-sponsored stream, with Topuria responding that the 'Notorious' is not significant enough to consider for a bout at the moment.
Topuria even extended an open invite to McGregor, suggesting the Irishman join him for training. In conversation with Ariel Helwani, he said: "He's a fake fighter. He fakes all the time that he's going to fight. Fighters fight every day...for me, he's retired, I don't even want to talk about a guy that's retired. I feel bad...that's never going to happen, never. How? I'm the world champion and he's not even in the rankings. But, we can do something if he wants. For my next training camp for my next fight, I invite him with Dan Hooker and we can do two and a half minute [sessions]...I'll change them every round, we can do that... Official fight? That's impossible. And right now at this point, I have much bigger fights than Conor McGregor. Conor McChicken."
It appears that Topuria has his sights set on a bout with Pimblett following their altercation on Saturday night. The bad blood between the two has been simmering since 2022 after an incident in a London hotel prior to a UFC event.
Following the encounter, Pimblett sent a warning to his long-time rival ahead of a potential title fight and revealed how he would stop him. "You don't even need to sell that fight – it sells itself," Pimblett said of a possible matchup with Topuria on ESPN's UFC 317 post-fight show. "Two people who genuinely dislike each other. We don't really get that.
"We haven't seen that since Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and (Conor) McGregor, two people who actually hate each other. Because I hate him," Pimblett continued. "I wouldn't want to finish him fast, I would want to finish him with a minute left in the fight after I've elbow him 700 times. I'd want to disfigure him."
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