Ilia Topuria calls out Conor McGregor after beating Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298

New UFC featherweight world champion Ilia Topuria has hastily called out Conor McGregor just moments after winning his first world title.

The Spaniard dethroned longstanding UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 298 main event in Anaheim, California on Saturday.

The 27-year-old knocked out Volkanovski in the second round at the Honda Center to end the Australian’s four-year reign as featherweight world champion.

And Topuria wasted little time in calling out arguably the biggest name to ever hold the world featherweight title immediately after his win.

Topuria calls for McGregor fight

“Conor McGregor, if you still have some balls, I will be waiting for you in Spain,” Topuria declared in the ring.

‘El Matador’ then doubled down on his callout to McGregor in his post fight press conference.

Asked about the probability of fighting McGregor, who hasn’t fought at featherweight since beating Jose Aldo to win the world title in December 2015, Topuria said: “Who said I want to fight him at 145lb?

“Without any weight limit. There are no weights if I fight him. He can choose it, I give him that option. If he feels he is ready for this level of competition, he can choose the weight, I choose the place.”

McGregor hasn’t fought in the Octagon since July 2021, when he broke his leg in a doctor’s stoppage loss in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier.

He is slated to fight Michael Chandler this year after the pair were pitted against each other as coaches on the Ultimate Fighter, but, as yet, a venue or date has not been announced.