There are figures that transcend barriers, which feel precedent and allow to place a discipline in an unexplored place until that moment. Conor McGregor was one of them. The Irishman, with his charismatic personality, his ability to create expectation and his performance within the UFC octagon, managed to become a superstar of mixed martial arts (MMA) a decade ago.
The reality is that, during its peak of sports performance, he was the number one fighter in sales, having still positioned his fighting as the most paid tickets per vision sold in the history of the MMA. However, over time, The character ate the persongiving way to an innumerable scandal list, which were undermining their public image. As a summary, the sport changed, made history and was even the athlete with the greatest income in the world, but in recent years all that has been going to the fret.
There is another figure, which in its own way has also changed the course of history. It is Ilya Topuria. The Hispanic-Georgian was proclaimed UFC world champion and allowed this discipline to experience an unprecedented ‘boom’ in our country. He became the Fernando Alonso who needed Spain to start taking into account the mixed martial arts. Undoubtedly, a national and European superstar, which fights for being the most relevant man within the UFC (right now is the 4 of the Libra pound ranking, only surpassed by Islam Makhachev, Jon Jones and Alex Pereira).
However, for Topuria, he has already surpassed McGregor in importance. «The values he represents are not the same as I represent. That is why I will be even bigger than him. At this time, I am bigger. More people may know him, but the way they know him is not how I want to be known, ”he said in a recent interview in Full Send Podcast. The truth is that McGregor marked a time and a road to stardom, but Topuria still has a lot of journey to explode. Time will issue a sentence.
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