Ilia Topuria has already surpassed Conor McGregor, says former UFC champion

A former UFC titleholder believes Ilia Topuria’s run has surpassed Conor McGregor’s.

Topuria has dazzled fans with his last three performances. “El Matador” captured the UFC Featherweight Championship by knocking Alexander Volkanovski out. He followed that up by becoming the first fighter to put Max Holloway to sleep. Then, at UFC 317, Topuria scored a first-round knockout victory over Charles Oliveira to become the new UFC Lightweight Champion.

The run that Topuria is on has drawn comparisons to McGregor’s double champion journey.

RELATED: JOE ROGAN NAMES ONE FIGHTER WHO SHOULD BE ILIA TOPURIA’S NEXT OPPONENT AFTER UFC 317

Ilia Topuria Surpassed Conor McGregor, Says ‘Funk Master’

In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Aljamian Sterling explained why he feels Ilia Topuria’s run has topped Conor McGregor’s (via MMAJunkie.com).

“It’s greater than Conor’s run,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “In terms of star power, Ilia has done the craziest and greatest thing that we’ve ever seen from a modern-day UFC fighter. You look at Conor – and this is no shade towards Conor – I would say his best run in terms of name value was Chad Mendes, but it was short notice. We’ve got to be honest about that. Then he fought Jose Aldo, right? I think it was right after, and then he fought Eddie Alvarez. A beautiful 13-second knockout (against Aldo) which set the world on fire – that’s huge. And then he does that to Eddie Alvarez, which I thought was a tailor-made matchup stylistically for him. But still, he was the champ at the time and he did them the way he did them.

“But then you have Ilia. His last three people have been some of the greatest combat athletes of all time. It’s insane what this guy has done. I don’t think there’s been a more impressive three-fight run than this, and the way he’s doing it.”

What’s next for Topuria remains to be seen. While he had a staredown with Paddy Pimblett at the conclusion of UFC 317, Dana White insisted that he didn’t want the faceoff to take place.