A former featherweight title challenger has given his opinions on the newest competitor hoping to claim gold from Alexander Volkanovski. Yair Rodriguez has made his opinions clear on Ilia Topuria ahead of the latter’s upcoming UFC 298 title challenge.
Like Rodriguez before him. Topuria is the newest featherweight to think he possesses the tools to dethrone the reigning featherweight king. When Rodriguez was in Topuria’s shoes, Volkanovski put on a clinic and put any questions of doubt to bed.
Topuria enters the UFC 298 title showdown, younger than Rodriguez was on his attempt, with an incredible 14-0 record, and with a whole lot of confidence that he is the future of the featherweight division. Not only targeting his upcoming opponent but the rest of the featherweight elite with his trash talk.
Yair Rodriguez Slams Ilia Topuria
With the words of Topuria creating waves, one man who took them particularly personally was Rodriguez. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA hour he had the following to say when asked about the Spanish-Georgian.
Rodriguez on Topuria:“He’s f*****g delusional. He’s not even f*****g in the same world as us. Another f*****g planet. I’m pretty sure Volkanovski is going to do the first job in f****** him up and then he’s going to have to eat all of these words and everybody is going to be f*****g laughing at him, I can assure you of that… I never gave a f**k about the guy until he started f*****g talking shit about me. I didn’t really pay attention to him, but this is the name of the sport,”
An angry Rodriguez would continue his tirade on Topuria: “You talk about somebody that is better known than you in the sport, and then you start becoming more known. That’s what he’s doing. Let’s be honest about this, because this is not a secret. He will talk shit about whoever. He’s mentioning Canelo, he’s mentioning McGregor, why do you think he’s doing that? It’s marketing. He will never get to fight somebody like McGregor, he will never get to face somebody like Canelo. Of course not,”
Before ending his rant with his overall prediction for the fight. “His career will be over after this fight against Volkanovski. He’s been talking so much shit, saying so many things, and people are going to be f*****g laughing at him after this.”
Quotes via BJPenn.com
Rodriguez’s next bout is against Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC’s trip to Mexico City later this month.
Do you agree with Yair Rodriguez on Ilia Topuria?
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
