Even Dana White wants UFC 298’s Ilia Topuria to dial back his insufferable ego — ‘He’s still got a lot to prove’

Ilia Topuria is the greatest featherweight of all time — just ask him, he’ll tell you.

Unfortunately for “El Matador,” there’s not much in the way of accomplishments to validate that claim, which is probably why everyone is getting sick of his overinflated ego. Even UFC CEO Dana White, charged with promoting Topuria, wants him to keep his statistics in perspective.

“When you look at the names, when you start talking about who he beat, what was at stake when he beat them, all those kind of things, that’s what Topuria doesn’t have yet,” White told Kevin Iole (transcribed by MMA News). “You can have all the stats you want, but he doesn’t have all that big fight experience. This is his first major name and first big fight.”

Topuria, 27, can turn talk into truth by stopping Alex Volkanovski in the UFC 298 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this Sat. night (Feb. 17, 2024) at Honda Center in Anaheim. Not only in the Aussie the current featherweight champion, he’s also one of the top pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.

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WORLD FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Sat., Feb. 17, 2024, for the first time in more than two years with its latest pay-per-view (PPV) show. In the ESPN+-streamed PPV main event, reigning Featherweight roost-ruler, Alexander Volkanovski, will defend his 145-pound strap against undefeated surging Spanish contender, Ilia Topuria. In addition, former Middleweight kingpin, Robert Whittaker, will finally square off with mercurial mauler, Paulo Costa, in UFC 298’s co-feature. UFC 298 will also feature the returns of Ian Garry, Geoff Neal, Henry Cejudo, Merab Dvalishvili and so much more!

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“As much of a stud as [Topuria] is, he’s still got a lot to prove,” White continued. “I don’t know about that (callout of Conor McGregor). I think he’s got a lot to; listen, when you’re undefeated, you’ve never tasted defeat, and you’ve been on the rise that this guy is on, that’s the way you should be thinking and that’s what your mentality should be. But we’ll see how it plays out on Saturday night.”

For the rest of the UFC 298 fight card and PP lineup click here.