"Brother thinks he is Conor McGregor" - MMA X reacts as Ilia Topuria dismisses vacating featherweight title amid impending lightweight move

MMA fans recently voiced their opinions about Ilia Topuria's latest announcement, where he debunked the rumors about vacating the UFC featherweight title. Lately, a few sources mentioned that 'El Matador' may vacate his current title, eyeing a move up to lightweight.

Topuria earned the UFC featherweight gold at UFC 298 with a TKO victory over Alexander Volkanovski. He fired verbal shots at several UFC fighters during the buildup to his first title defense encounter against Max Holloway. Along with dissing 'Blessed', Topuria bashed Conor McGregor, Belal Muhammad, and Islam Makhachev during this time.

The Spaniard became the first UFC fighter to TKO Holloway at UFC 308, earning himself his first title defense. Topuria also promised to accept Volkanovski's challenge for a rematch during the octagon interview. However, some recent reports mentioned that 'El Matador' might vacate the UFC featherweight gold to move up a division.

Topuria recently addressed those rumors with an X update. It clarified that he had plans to move up to lightweight, but he won't be vacating the title as of now:

"I will not leave the title vacant. The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven't had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere. I have conquered my division and I will do the same in the next one."

The comments section of Topuria's post showcased mixed reactions. One fan wrote:

"Brother thinks he is Conor McGregor"

Others wrote:

"That's good to hear. You've still got work to do in this division."

"4 out of 15 isn't conquering a division 😩"

"Volk takes you out in a rematch"

"You did NOT conquer your division."

Check out some more reactions below:

[Screenshots courtesy: @Topuriailia on X]

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Islam Makhachev is open to a fight against Ilia Topuria

Ilia Topuria appeared in a previous episode of The Ariel Helwani Show where he mentioned not having any personal grudge against Islam Makhachev but just wanting to get a UFC title in a second division. Topuria said:

"I don’t have anything personal with him. The only point is that he’s the world champion in the lightweight division. I wanna move up to the lightweight division. I wanna face him in the future."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments in the X post below (via @RedCorner_MMA on X):

A recent video from @Home_of_Fight showcased one of Makhachev's recent interviews in his native language, addressing the issue of fighting Topuria. Makhachev mentioned that he would have no issues in facing Topuria in the octagon.