UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has admitted that he once looked up to troubled UFC star Conor McGregor, but his actions outside of the Octagon in recent years means that’s no longer the case.
“I know he’s not what he [once] was,” Topuria said in a recent interview. “He is a McGregor who represents alcohol and drugs more than sport.
“I was inspired by Conor. He was an inspiration for me when I was young. Myself and a lot of other people I know wanted to follow in his footsteps because he was an example of faith that everything can be achieved through [hard] work, consistency, effort.
“And he lost all of that because he betrayed the values that led him to all [of] his success.”
Topuria isn’t the only current UFC star who seems to feel that way as former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has also mentioned in the past how he idolized McGregor in the past, but has since struggled to respect who he has become.
However, while O’Malley has still wrestled with a love / hate relationship with his former hero, Topuria appears to have given up on McGregor.
“It’s clear where we are talking about, right? A guy that nowadays doesn’t represent the values that he used to represent years ago.
“We lost an idol.”
