Ilia Topuria is a top star in the mixed martial arts world – but there have been a lot of bad remarks made about him after UFC Freedom 250, including from Nate Diaz.

In the main event of the White House show, Ilia Topuria lost his UFC lightweight championship to Justin Gaethje. He certainly had a few positive moments littered throughout the contest, but the main image coming out of that show was Topuria’s bloodied and beaten face after Gaethje forced him to quit on the stool.

Ilia Topuria has always had a lot of ‘aura’ surrounding him, and he knows better than anyone that it will take a while for people to not think about what happened to him on that night, even when they consider his big accomplishments. Thankfully, he’s young, and he’s talented enough to rebound, even against the very best.

In a recent interview, though, Nate Diaz wasn’t prepared to give Ilia Topuria all that much credit.

Nate Diaz goes after Ilia Topuria

“I don’t really give a fck about what they do, but Ilia is lame as fck,” Diaz told MMA Junkie at the Ki MMA launch event Monday. “He’s a punching bag. He called me a punching bag, he’s a f*cking punching bag. He got his ass whooped, and they made a big deal out of him just like they did out of Conor (McGregor) when he started coming (up), getting an early pump up before you’ve been in a real fight. So, that’s what happened to him when he got into a real fight with Justin Gaethje. Now look at you.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Topuria has made it very clear that he wants to come back and fight his way to the top once again, so we can’t imagine he’s going to be too bothered by this criticism from Diaz. Still, this is easily the most adversity he’s had to face in his career thus far, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how he handles it as we get ready for a blockbuster 2027 in the lightweight division.