"Madrid, Santiago Bernabeu" - Ilia Topuria hopes to bring UFC to Spain, confident venue will 'sell out'
Ilia Topuria is seemingly next in line for a featherweight title opportunity, following his dominant performance against Josh Emmett at UFC on ABC 5. Interestingly, the UFC has never held an event in Spain, where 'El Matador' moved to at the age of 15 and holds dual citizenship, along with Georgia.
The No.5-ranked featherweight recently revealed that he plans to change that, expressing his confidence that the promotion could sell out Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the home of Real Madrid. Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, Topuria stated:
"Seeing how MMA is growing in Spain, it's crazy, because I remember when I started, no one knew anything about MMA. They were like, 'Which sport is that?' 'What are you doing?' 'They punch each other?' Crazy questions. Right now, everyone knows everything about MMA. Everyone follows the UFC."
Topuria continued:
"I'm pretty sure that if the UFC brings an event to Spain, they're going to sell out, in one day, the whole arena... Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu, in that stadium. Yeah. They're going to sell out. I don't have any doubt about that."
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments on a UFC event in Spain below (starting at the 7:00 mark):
Topuria added that fans would come from all over Europe if the UFC were to hold an event in Spain's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 83,168. UFC 243, which was headlined by a middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker, holds the record for the largest live crowd in UFC history. The event, which took place at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, had 57,127 fans in attendance.
Ilia Topuria predicts a first-round finish of Alexander Volkanovski
Alexander Volkanovski is the longest-reigning champion in the UFC, having held the featherweight title since 2019. During that span of time, 'The Great' has defended the title five times and is closing in on Jose Aldo's featherweight record of seven title defenses. While he's reportedly targeting Ilia Topuria for his sixth title defense, 'El Matador' believes that he will finish the featherweight champion in the first round.
Speaking at the media day ahead of UFC on ABC 5, the No.5-ranked featherweight stated:
"Same as always. I'm going to finish him in the first round... Of course it's going to be a little bit bigger to beat someone who is pound-for-pound No.1 and who defended the title so many times. It's going to be bigger than if Yair beats him, and I beat Yair because Yair lost a lot of fights with a lot of ranked guys – with Max Holloway, with Frankie Edgar. He lost a lot of fights. I prefer the fight against Alex and to take the win against him."
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments on Alexander Volkanovski below (starting at the 1:06 mark):
While Volkanovski was considering a UFC 294 lightweight title rematch against Islam Makhachev, Charles Oliveira will be challenging for the lightweight title instead. It's unclear when 'The Great' will return to the octagon, but it appears that Topuria will be his next opponent.
Check out the UFC 290 face-off between Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski below:
