“No, because he is a class act” - Islam Makhachev’s coach issues savage retort against Ilia Topuria-Conor McGregor comparisons

Due to his close friendship with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev has always been on the bad books of Conor McGregor. Incidentally, someone who eerily resembles McGregor, Ilia Topuria, has been angling for a fight with the pound-for-pound king.

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Islam Makhachev's head coach Javier Mendez was asked about the Topuria-McGregor comparison. On first thought, Mendez savagely retorted the comparison, citing the character of the two. However, the Mexican-American admitted the comparison is spot on in light of their performances inside the octagon.

Mendez said:

"No, no, because he's a class act. Ilia is a class act. He's not throwing raucous stuff out there. You know, as far as we're talking performance, I would say, performance, okay, let's forget the other stuff. Performance-wise, I would say, yeah, he's doing really well, performance-wise."

Topuria recently vacated the featherweight title, for a lightweight move. Dana White announced the news via his Instagram Live, announcing Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes to fight for the vacant strap.

White didn't reveal their plan for Topuria but noted MMA insider Ariel Helwani claimed the UFC targets Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria for UFC 317.

Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (4:33):

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Ilia Topuria is confident he will beat Islam Makhachev

In a recent interview with Kyle Forgeard on the FULL SEND podcast, Ilia Topuria confidently claimed he has the tools to defeat Islam Makhachev, the pound-for-pound king. The Georgian boldly claimed he has the ability to either win by knockout or submission.

The reason he believes so is due to him being part of the new generation of MMA fighters. As such, Topuria believes he is well-rounded to the extent that there is no area an opponent can gain an upper hand over him.

Topuria said:

"To be honest, I always say that I represent the new generation of mixed martial arts. And what that means, before, you were seeing guys in MMA who were good in striking and maybe in wrestling, but the ground game wasn't that good. Or you see a guy who has a phenomenal ground game, he has a phenomenal striking, but his wrestling sucks."

He added:

"In my case, I'm good everywhere. So you can take me anywhere, and I'm going to feel comfortable. They used to say, "I'm going to take you to the deep water." I was born in the deep water, you know what I mean? Take me wherever you want to take me."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below (21:21):