Terence Crawford has once again hit out at Ilia Topuria and claimed the UFC champion is nowhere near the level of Conor McGregor after their recent feud
Terence Crawford has doubled down on his stance on Ilia Topuria and insists the UFC champion does not come close to matching Conor McGregor’s achievements.
Crawford secured his status as a three-division undisputed world champion on Saturday evening following a dominant performance against boxing legend Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. Despite receiving widespread recognition following the bout, ‘Bud’ found himself quizzed several times about Topuria.
Prior to the American’s showdown with ‘Saul,’ Topuria made headlines when he challenged ‘Bud’ to a fight and vowed to “put him to sleep” should they ever meet inside the ropes. The UFC sensation reignited their bitter rivalry after the fight upon seeing Crawford walk to the ring using the same walkout song as he does, reports All Out Fighting.
‘Bud’ was completely oblivious to Topuria’s walk-out track and stated he had never witnessed him compete. Just days following Saturday evening’s historic encounter, the newly-crowned undisputed super-middleweight champion has once again found himself discussing the UFC lightweight titleholder. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Crawford hit back at Topuria’s recent verbal attack and confessed he had no idea who the UFC champion was when they met face-to-face.
READ MORE: Ricky Hatton’s heartbreaking message about how he wanted to be remembered days before deathREAD MORE: Ricky Hatton’s huge fortune revealed – exactly who will inherit sum after tragic death
“To be honest, I’ve never even seen this dude fight,” Crawford said. “I ain’t even going to lie. I’m not worried about that guy at all. It’s crazy how things work. I ain’t even know who he was. When he saw me at the UFC, he came up to shake my hand and say what’s up to me. I ain’t even know who he was, but then I see him online talking about how he’ll knock me out in the first round and this and that. And now this. Well, if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me like, ‘Hey, man, I want to fight you. What’s up?’ That’s fake.
“If I don’t like somebody and I want to fight them for whatever reason, I would’ve been like, ‘What’s up, man? What do you think about me and you fighting?’ I’m not going to hide behind the keyboard and things like that and be like, ‘I’ll knock this dude out and this and that.’ I think that’s fake.”
Topuria is keen to go toe-to-toe with the boxing sensation, but Crawford reckons ‘El Matador’ is merely “clout chasing” and is baffled by the MMA fighter’s recent behaviour. “I definitely think he’s trying to clout chase,” Crawford stated. “I definitely think he would get in the ring with me for the fight check. That’s what we all do it for, but at the same time, I don’t know what the f*ck he’s doing. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I would – there ain’t even nothing to talk about.”
When asked if he had any interest in taking on Topuria, the American was dismissive. In 2017, McGregor famously squared off against Floyd Mayweather in a historic crossover bout. After hearing McGregor’s name mentioned alongside Topuria’s, Crawford did not mince his words, asserting that McGregor is simply in a class of his own.
“For what? What money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I’m going to get out of fighting him? Please,” Crawford retorted when asked about a potential bout with ‘El Matador’. “He’s nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t even compare him to Conor. Conor was here (up). He’s here (down). Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I’ve never seen this guy fight, and I watch a lot of MMA.
“Maybe I’m slipping. Maybe he’s a good fighter. I don’t know. But I’ve honestly never seen this guy fight. And I’ve seen Conor McGregor fight a lot of times. Just saying. Him and Conor, it’s night and day. It’s night and day. You know it’s night and day. Don’t ever try to say they’re on the same level.”
When is the next boxing event?
Oscar Collazo and Jayson Vayson are poised to clash in a thrilling encounter on Saturday night. The bout is scheduled to unfold at Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio. The preliminary undercard will probably commence around 2am Sunday morning UK time (9pm ET / 8pm CT / 6pm PT).
For the headline fight, Vayson will probably make his ring entrance first around 4am Sunday morning UK time (11pm ET / 10pm CT / 8pm PT). Boxing enthusiasts will be able to catch all the drama live on DAZN, which will broadcast to more than 200 countries through a DAZN subscription.