Dana White has made it clear that he’s not going to promote a fight between Ilia Topuria and Terence Crawford. To make things worse for the Spaniard,  ‘Bud’ has straightaway rejected ‘El Matador’s challenge, claiming that the UFC champion is “trying to clout chase.” Well, it appears that Topuria has not taken those words too kindly and decided to put Crawford on blast.

Terence Crawford claimed that he had no idea who Ilia Topuria was when they bumped into each other recently. According to him, it was the Georgian-Spanish star who approached him when they met. But the UFC star seems to recall their meeting differently.

Ilia Topuria jogs Terence Crawford’s memory with a stern warning

Ilia Topuria has, in turn, claimed that Crawford wished him well before his last fight, and was shocked to see that someone who claims to be a fan of the sport doesn’t know one of its biggest stars. “You say you’re an MMA fan, but you don’t even know who I am… interesting. The first time we met you told me ‘good luck this week with your fight.’ Your memory fails you… and soon your chin will too,” Ilia Topuria wrote on X. And he was nowhere near done.

The UFC lightweight champion even shared a small video clip wherein Crawford admitted that he had watched ‘El Matador’ fight. Calling the boxing star an “idiot,” Ilia Topuria has also promised to show Terence Crawford what a ‘real fight’ looks like, and claimed to be the real pound-for-pound best.

“I’ll represent the entire MMA community. Pound-for-pound #1 in real fights vs the pound-for-pound boxer,” the UFC champion added. Does that mean we have a potential Mayweather-McGregor type of affair on our hands? Not quite.

Ilia Topuria is one of the biggest stars in the UFC at the moment, and while stars like Conor McGregor and Jon Jones have been on the sidelines, looking for a spot on the White House card, he’s been going strong as an active fighter. So, why not let him fight Terence Crawford?

There are myriad reasons why this fight could happen. It could literally be the next McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight. But, before making any judgments about Topuria’s star power, Crawford claims that comparing him to McGregor is a mistake.

Terence Crawford dismisses people comparing Ilia Topuria to Conor McGregor

We have seen many fighters trying to replicate the Conor McGregor formula to garner attention. For most, these imitations are restricted to their antics and trash talk. Ilia Topuria, meanwhile, is the only one to come close to replicating McGregor’s success inside the Octagon.

Topuria beat the dominant champion, Alexander Volkanovski, for the featherweight belt. Just like McGregor did to Jose Aldo. He beat Charles Oliveira with a vicious KO to win the UFC lightweight belt. ‘El Matador’ even recreated the iconic McGregor hammerfist moment in his fight against ‘Do Bronxs.’ Add to that the chest and back tattoos with impeccable dressing sense, and you’d imagine he’s the next best thing to McGregor. But ‘Bud’ Crawford disagrees.

Not only does Terence Crawford claim that he has never seen Ilia Topuria fight, he also doubts that he’ll make much money if he fights the UFC lightweight champion. “Tell me how much I’m gonna get out of fighting him. He’s not nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t ever compare him to Conor,” the new super middleweight kingpin told Ariel Helwani.

Crawford might have a point here. Despite his success, Topuria has not generated the type of hype that McGregor did in his prime. The Irishman was selling out weigh-in venues. So for Topuria to get anywhere near that level, he might need a marquee win like Islam Makhachev. A fight that is entirely out of the realm of possibility, but is still a long way away. Where does that leave things now?

It seems like Ilia Topuria may not become the second fighter to compete in a boxing match while under contract with the UFC. Yet. However, he’s making every possible move to get this fight to happen because, let’s face it, he’s probably going to make way more against Terence Crawford than he’ll do in Dana White‘s promotion. What do you think? Drop your comments below.