Why a Prime Conor McGregor Defeats Ilia Topuria — Artem Lobov Breaks Down The Match
Who would win in a fight between prime Conor McGregor and today’s Ilia Topuria?
During his heyday, there were few fighters more charismatic and dominant inside the Octagon than McGregor. At the height of his career, he earned wins over notable names like Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez, Dustin Poirier, and Nate Diaz. And, of course, you can’t mention ‘Mystic Mac’ without acknowledging his legacy as the UFC’s first-ever simultaneous two-division champion.
Unfortunately, McGregor’s days at the top of the MMA game seem to be long gone. Now, it’s Ilia Topuria’s turn.
El Matador’ has become one of the biggest names in the sport today, winning both the featherweight and lightweight world titles and stacking up wins against future Hall of Famers like Alexander Volkanovski, Charles Oliveira, and the aforementioned Max Holloway.
McGregor vs. Topura — Place Your Bets
So, if we could somehow match up 2015 McGregor with 2025 Topuria, who would come out on top?
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m a massive fan of Ilia,” Lobov told Bloody Elbow. “You know, his style is incredible. you know, he’s incredible striking, very ballsy, you know, he fights aggressively, you know, comes in fearless, you know, good wrestling. It’s I put him up very very high up there. I still do think, if I’m really honest, I might be a little bit biased, but I do think that in their prime, Conor still, I think, edges it, you know, he was just honestly … Just watching Conor like in his prime was incredible.
“Just untouchable, you know, and I watched him in trainings, you know, I annihilate and annihilate, you know, like five guys in a row one by one, you know, they all coming in fresh, including me and him not even breathing heavy. Like he was just a killer, you know. So for me, as I said, I’m probably biased, but for me, it’s hard to imagine anyone doing anything to to that corner, you know. I feel that Connor could have bet everyone that that’s, you know, for me, he could have bet even Mayweather and and Khabib, you know, uh that corner.
“Um, but Ilia is probably a very close second to me. Right behind Connor, right behind be behind top level Connor, you know. Um, but right now Ilia is the best. There’s there’s no question about it. He’s the number one guy now. And yeah, he’s he’s he’s so dominant and so exciting to watch and yeah, I love watching his fights.”
To be fair, Lobov may be a little biased, considering his past friendship with McGregor, though there’s clearly no love lost between the two after Lobov filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the Irish megastar.
