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That Ilia Topuria (15-0-0) is a UFC superstar is clear. He became featherweight champion of the world with an incredible upset of legend Alexander Volkanovski, he has charisma outside the cage that is unmatched and a personality which divides opinion.
He manages to get on the wrong side of some older names in the sport, and it has happened to the legendary Daniel Cormier (22-3-1), double champion of light heavyweight and heavyweight classes. He disagrees with 'Matador's' attitude about his future.
Specifically, about his choice of fights. Topuria has always been clear and since knocking out Volkanovski he has pointed to three names.
"Conor McGregor, number one. Max Holloway, if he puts his WBC title on the line. And the third one is Sean O'Malley", he said as soon as he landed in Spain from Anaheim.
The others were discarded, with examples such as Movsar Evloev or Brian Ortega. Even a rematch with Volkanovski that could have been in Perth.
Who will Topuria fight next?
The future equation is being cleaned up and everything pointed to Holloway after the spectacular KO to Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
"I'm only interested with the BMF at stake," Topuria told 'El Espanol'. And, along the way, McGregor, who seemed pretty unrealistic, will close out his feud with Michael Chandler at UFC 300 and O'Malley, despite asking to go to Spain against Topuria, will, if nothing changes, fight Merab Dvalishvili. That doesn't sit well with 'DC' Cormier.
"You're the champion and if you're the champion sometimes you have a say in who you fight. But I don't know if he has as much say as he thinks he does," he said.
The former great rival of Jon Jones believes that a champion has to fight to defend his title against everyone, just like his arch nemesis Jones (13) or Volkanovski (5) did.
"It's strange. It doesn't tell us what's next," Cormier added. And he has doubts about the Alicante-based fighter's status. "It says no to a lot of things that can happen right now. And I don't know if you can do it as a champion," said the double champion.