Elijah Topuria: “It’s stupid to hate Conor McGregor.”

Reigning UFC featherweight titleholder, Elijah Topuria, doesn’t understand the animosity some fighters and fans have toward former UFC two weight class champion, Conor McGregor, who has taken mixed martial arts to new levels of popularity and royalties.

“I really admire this man a lot and have a lot of respect for everything he’s done in the sport,” Combatalk quoted the Spanish-Georgian fighter as saying. “It’s stupid to hate him. After everything he’s done in his personal life and all the achievements he has. I don’t like to judge people I don’t know personally. Either way, he’s an icon of the sport.”

On Feb. 17 at UFC 298 in Anaheim, undefeated Elijah Topuria earned his seventh UFC victory with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski to take the championship belt from the Australian.

Conor McGregor, who has been out of the octagon since suffering a broken leg nearly three years ago in the final match of his trilogy with Dustin Puryear, announced ten days ago that he plans to fight Michael Chandler in June and complete a ground-and-pound trilogy with Nate Diaz in September.

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