"We got a monster on our hands" - Fans rip into Ilia Topuria "cherry picking" opponents already as new champion dismisses yet another contender

Ilia Topuria was able to dethrone Alexander Volkanovski and capture the featherweight title via second-round knockout at UFC 298. 'El Matador' dismissed Movsar Evloev as a potential opponent for his next title defense.

Speaking at the post-fight press conference, the newly crowned featherweight champion stated:

"Look, Movsar is a good fight for me. I would love to fight him, but the guy has eight fights in the UFC, eight decisions, zero submissions, zero knockouts. From eight decisions, four split decisions. Man, come on, he needs to finish someone."

He continued:

"Maybe they can find someone for him in his hometown. I don't know, maybe he can fight with his dad or something like that and finish him. I don't know, but he needs to finish someone. The record he has right now, yeah, it seems nice, he's undefeated, but, man, the guy didn't finish anyone so he needs to do something."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments on facing Movsar Evloev below:

Fans reacted to Topuria's comments by accusing the champion of avoiding featherweight contenders. @nasir_mma claimed:

"Don't be scared just be a nice champ it's movsar time"

@ChopDewey questioned Topuria's intentions:

"So... is this ducking or does he only want a money fight by someone who ain't making that weight anymore?"

@expertmma97 suggested that Evloev will be the Khabib Nurmagomedov to Topuria's Conor McGregor:

"If you trynna be like Conor then Movsar will be your Khabib 😂 😂 🦅 18-0 > 15-0"

Check out the best fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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lia Topuria previously dismissed several featherweight contenders

Ilia Topuria expressed plenty of confidence heading into UFC 298, claiming that he would defeat Alexander Volkanovski in a manner that the promotion does not ask for an immediate rematch. Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, 'El Matador' was asked about potentially facing Max Holloway next, responding:

"How? I'm going to beat the guy that whooped his a** three times. How? It doesn't make any sense. Max, Yair [Rodriguez], Brian Ortega, all of them, they can go and retire. I'm never going to give them a chance to fight for the title."

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments dismissing featherweight contenders below (starting at the 12:38 mark):

Topuria added that he is unsure who the UFC will offer him next. He has continuously angled for a bout with Conor McGregor in his home nation of Spain. While he was dismissive of any immediate rematch leading up to the bout, 'El Matador' did note that he would give Volkanovski a rematch following his knockout victory.