Chael Sonnen explains why Ilia Topuria is "going to pass Conor McGregor" in the UFC: "The guy never misses"
Chael Sonnen recently shared his thoughts on Ilia Topuria and opined that the reigning UFC featherweight champion would surpass Conor McGregor's stardom one day. Sonnen also pointed out that Topuria steers his stardom well and has the attention of some very famous and influential people.
'El Matador' is coming off an impressive third-round knockout victory over Max Holloway in a featherweight title match at UFC 308 last month. Before that, the Georgian-Spanish fighter secured a first-round knockout victory over Alexander Volkanovski to win the 145-pound title at UFC 298 in February.
Given that Topuria has secured statement victories against two high-profile MMA stars, it's no surprise that many believe he's destined for greatness. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained why Topuria would surpass the UFC's biggest superstar ever. He said:
"He’s got the Prime Minister of Spain watching his fights and having people filming. He’s got the biggest actresses, the most successful athletes – which are football [players] in Spain – coming and watching him live."
Sonnen continued:
"The guy never misses. It turns out he’s as good as he said. I mean, it’s going to be a short period – he’s not here now, but it’s a short period of time. At this trajectory, believe this or not, he’s going to pass Conor McGregor." [H/t: MMA Junkie]
Catch Chael Sonnen's comments below:
Colby Covington reacts to Ilia Topuria's welterweight title dreams
Ilia Topuria recently expressed an interest in moving up to welterweight to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov, but 'Nomad' wasn't having any of it. Rakhmonov posted an edited picture of him submitting Topuria on a beach while mocking his welterweight dreams.
While many were intrigued by the idea of a Topuria-Rakhmonov fight, Colby Covington doesn't think the UFC featherweight champion stands a chance against the much-bigger Kazakh fighter. In an interview with Submission Radio, Covington said:
"I don't think it's smart, he's [Topuria] very short, he's only like 5'7, 5'8 maybe at most. So he needs to stay in his lane.''
Covington later lauded 'El Matador' and said:
''I get what he's doing though, he's a great fighter man, he's knocking people out left and right, he's beating two of the greatest featherweights in history. Let him talk his talk right now but he needs to stay in his lane, stay in his division. He's a 145 guy, he's not a 170 [pound] guy and if he comes to 170 [pounds], let's see him go to 55 [155 pounds] first."
Catch Colby Covington's comments below (8:52):