Conor McGregor responds to Ilia Topuria’s ‘ballsy’ callout at UFC 298

Conor McGregor doesn’t seem too bothered by Ilia Topuria’s latest callout after “El Matador” captured the Featherweight title at UFC 298 this past weekend inside Honda Center in Anaheim, California (watch highlights).

The 145-belt was once carried by McGregor, who defeated Jose Aldo to win the title in 2015. He was stripped in Nov. 2016 shortly after winning UFC’s Lightweight crown. Nowadays, he’s teasing runs at Welterweight — or even Middleweight — but that didn’t deter Topuria from challenging “The Notorious” after stopping Volkanovski in “The Golden State” on Saturday night.

“Dana [White], Hunter [Campbell], it’s showtime! It’s time to take the UFC to Spain,” he said during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “And Conor McGregor, if you still have some balls, I will be waiting for you in Spain.”

UFC CEO, Dana White, has already agreed that the promotion will take Topuria to Spain for a high-profile title defense. As for McGregor, his response was non-committal.

On an ESPN social media post sharing Topuria’s quote, McGregor joked, “I have huge balls, I’ve four kids.”

Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether McGregor will ever fight in UFC again — seriously — much less at 145 pounds. “The Notorious” has claimed he’s returning to fight Michael Chandler in June, but White has said that’s not happening.

Following UFC 298, he speculated that McGregorhad too much money to care about fighting anymore.

“Any time we get Conor, we’ll be thrilled when he comes and fights,” White said. “Money complicates a lot of things. He just filmed a movie. He’s got to do the press for the movie and he’s got obligations with that. He does want to fight this year, but we’ll see what happens.”

White denied the delays had anything to do with McGregor having just two fights left on his UFC contract. But, something is clearly getting lost in conversation between Conor — who keeps angling to fight soon — and White, who keeps pumping the breaks.

Even if the two finally get on the same page, though, we wouldn’t hold our breaths waiting for McGregor vs. Topuria.

First things first.

For complete UFC 298 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.