Ilia Topuria Explains Why He Respects Khabib Nurmagomedov, But Not His Teammates

Ilia Topuria shows respect to Khabib, but goes IN on his cousins/teammates 😳

“One thing I respect about Khabib, the guy is super respectful… I mentioned Islam, and all the cousins come out.

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They’ve never knocked anyone out, they get caught using steroids, they’re super… pic.twitter.com/Bxmm77AEG0— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 21, 2024

Ilia Topuria doesn’t have the same respect for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammates as he does for “The Eagle.”

Topuria is slated to defend his featherweight title against Max Holloway in the main event at UFC 308 this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. If he defends his strap successfully, “El Matador” has expressed interest in challenging lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, leading to a war of words with the Dagestani contingent.

Umar Nurmagomedov, Usman Nurmagomedov, Tagir Ulanbekov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov all teamed up to throw online barbs at Topuria. The beef initially started with Topuria claiming he can get the better of Makhachev in a street fight. However, the Georgian-Spaniard finds it silly of Makhachev’s teammates to try to intimidate him with street fight threats.

Topuria also took digs at the lack of finishes on some of the Dagestani fighters’ records and Bellator lightweight champ Usman’s recent drug testing failure. While Topuria paid his respect to former UFC lightweight champ and Hall of Famer Khabib, he doesn’t feel the same way about the latter’s teammates. However, Topuria acknowledged Makhachev as the best of the current group.

“One thing I respect about Khabib, the guy is really super respectful. He never says anything about anybody. People talk a lot, he never says anything about anybody,” Topuria recently told KOI Menero MMA. “I mentioned Islam and all the cousins come out. They have never knocked anyone out, they get caught using steroids, they’re super cheaters and suddenly they jump. The only thing it tells me is that they have a damaged nervous system from taking so many steroids. Because that’s the first thing that gets damaged. Threatening a fighter with: ’When we see each other, I’m going to hit you.’ It’s like, man. I dedicate my life to fighting. Let them be a little more creative. I don’t know what to say. Their best is Islam.”

Topuria extended his perfect record to 15-0 with a title win over Alexander Volkanovski via knockout at UFC 298 this past February. Meanwhile, Holloway comes off a BMF title win over Justin Gaethje at lightweight at UFC 300 in April. And Makhachev has been recovering from a hand injury suffered in his third successful lightweight defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June.

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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