Exclusive: Ilia Topuria envisions massive Conor McGregor clash at Santiago Bernabeu after making KO history against Max Holloway
Ilia Topuria has some lofty ambitions as the reigning UFC featherweight champion. He recently opened up about his future fight plans and outlined his dream of fighting Conor McGregor at Real Madrid's hallowed Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Topuria is coming off an impressive second-round knockout victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 earlier this year. He won the 145-pound strap and extended his undefeated record to 15-0. In the aftermath, Topuria made it clear that he wanted to face 'The Notorious' in a high-profile bout in Spain.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, 'El Matador' reiterated his plans to fight MMA's biggest superstar in one of the biggest football stadiums in the world after defending his title against former featherweight champion Max Holloway in a dominant fashion. He said:
"I hope to defend the belt with Max Holloway and then I want to fight Conor McGregor. If he wins his upcoming fight [vs. Michael Chandler], that's the fight I'm looking for. It's gonna be the biggest fight in MMA history... The biggest pay-per-view, the biggest everything. We going to have like 80,000 people watching the event in the arena... It's gonna be in the [Santiago] Bernabeu."
After Topuria was reminded that Holloway had never been knocked out in his career, the 27-year-old Georgian-Spanish fighter responded:
"There's always the first time. This is going to be the first time that someone's gonna be able to knock him out, and I'm going to be the one to do that."
Ilia Topuria wants to fight Conor McGregor and two others before potential Islam Makhachev clash
Earlier this year, Ilia Topuria outlined his plan to become the UFC's pound-for-pound (P4P) king.
Topuria has been vocal about his dreams of becoming one of MMA's biggest superstars, and it appears he knows what he needs to do to get there. The Georgian-Spanish fighter is planning to target three of the UFC's most well-known faces before having a go at the No.1-ranked P4P fighter in the promotion.
During an interview with Eurosport (Espanyol), Topuria named Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, and Sean O'Malley as his preferred opponents next before facing Makhachev to potentially become a two-division champion. He said:
"The three rivals that I would most like in the next fight are Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, or Sean O'Malley. I want to fight again before the end of the year, and then the next target would be Islam Makhachev. That fight would be the one that would bring me closest to number one in the pound-for-pound ranking. I see myself as a double champion." [Translated via Google Translate]