Conor McGregor suggests UFC rival has been copying his behaviour

The Irishman made a name for himself during his rise to the top of the sport and has recently suggested a current UFC fighter is copying his tactics

Former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor has suggested featherweight king Ilia Topuria has been copying some of his methods.

The pair have exchanged several verbal altercations over the last few weeks. During a recent appearance on a stream sponsored by Duelbits, the Irishman hit out at Topuria - who remarked he wasn't important enough to fight right now. While both men have traded barbs recently, things took an unexpected turn when the featherweight champion sent an open invitation to McGregor, enticing 'The Notorious' to come train with the 27-year-old.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, he said: “He’s a fake fighter. He fakes all the time that he’s going to fight. Fighters fight every day…for me, he’s retired, I don’t even want to talk about a guy that’s retired. I feel bad…that’s never going to happen, never. How? I’m the world champion and he’s not even in the rankings. But, we can do something if he wants. For my next training camp for my next fight, I invite him with Dan Hooker and we can do two and a half minute [sessions]…I’ll change them every round, we can do that… Official fight? That’s impossible. And right now at this point, I have much bigger fights than Conor McGregor. Conor McChicken.”

'El Matador' has long called for a fight with the Irishman despite some of his recent comments online. Topuria picked up the 145lb title after knocking out Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year. He is set to defend his title for the first time this weekend against former champion Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi at UFC 308.

Topuria - who remains undefeated in the cage - has enjoyed a sensational rise to the top of the sport and is now regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. It's fair to say that the featherweight star comes across as very confident and assured in the build up to his fights.

That said, McGregor recently shared a video from a UFC meme account to his official Instagram account, which compared his tactics to that of Topuria's. Ahead of his first title fight in 2015, The Notorious' clashed with then-champion Jose Aldo several times. McGregor famously snatched the Brazilian's belt and held it in the air.

Similarly, ahead of his showdown with Volkanovski back in February, Topuria pulled the same stunt. In the video shared on the Irishman's Instagram, the clip was captioned, “Spot the difference” and describes 'El Matador's' methods as “Level: Medium.”

McGregor hasn't fought in the UFC since suffering a defeat to Dustin Poirier back in 2021. He was expected to make his UFC comeback against Michael Chandler earlier this year, but pulled out of his UFC 303 clash due to an injury. The Irishman star still hopes to settle his beef with the former Bellator champion, but UFC boss Dana White has insisted no decision has been made about his next opponent. “I’d like it to be Chandler,” McGregor said about his UFC return ahead of Anthony Joshua’s loss to Daniel Dubois last month. “I’d like that to be squared away. I wish him well against Oliveira, but let’s see how it goes.”

White always anticipated that the 36-year-old would return next year. When asked if McGregor will fight again, he replied: “Yes. I wasn’t 100 per cent in 2024, but I am in 2025. I just am. I know more than you guys know. I’m 100 per cent confident McGregor will fight next year."