Ilia Topuria earns a fan in Cory Sandhagen after win over Max Holloway: "I thought he was just a cocky dude who was good at fighting"

Ilia Topuria may have portrayed himself as a brash and disrespectful individual during the buildup to his UFC 308 encounter against Max Holloway. However, his actions inside the octagon at UFC 308 converted the UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen into one of his fans.

Topuria advanced his undefeated record to 16-0 with a victory over Max Holloway at UFC 308. The Spaniard was overtly confident about being the first UFC fighter to knock out Holloway throughout the buildup to their fight. On Oct. 26, Topuria proved himself with a stunning TKO victory in the third round of the bout.

Looking at Topuria's previous interviews, many expected the Madrid native to go for another rant after defeating Holloway. However, his grateful attitude during his octagon interview earned him a lot of new fans, including Sandhagen.

'The Sandman' recently uploaded an Instagram reel, analyzing the UFC 308 main event. However, its caption revealed that Topuria's surprisingly respectful attitude had turned him into an 'El Matador' fan:

"Damn :( big time sad to see Max lose. But Ilia made a fan out of me - I thought he was just a cocky dude who was good at fighting. Turns out he seems like a nice guy who’s good at fighting."

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One of Cory Sandhagen's previous rivals believes he can cause problems for Ilia Topuria

Cory Sandhagen locked horns with the former bantamweight king, Aljamain Sterling, at UFC 250 in 2020. Since then, the UFC world has advanced a lot, with Sterling claiming the UFC bantamweight gold at UFC 259, losing it at UFC 288, and then moving up to featherweight.

Currently, Topuria is the standard for Sterling's weight class after his victory over Max Holloway. However, the former bantamweight champ believes that he can be a tricky matchup for the current featherweight king. Sterling recently uploaded a video on his YouTube channel, sporting a Joker-like appearance, and broke down why he can cause problems for Topuria:

"If I were to fight him, you know, God willing, Inshallah, I beat Movzar [Evloev] and do get the crack. I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense. Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain't doing that, bro. We're sitting there looking for our takedown, then we're gonna make it a grappling match. I'm trying to get the dub. I'm not trying to get my head and my brain sent into the next dimension again."

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments below: