Ilia Topuria has often voiced his desire to fight at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the home of his beloved Real Madrid in Spain. It would appear that sentiment is now finding its own fandom. The first to officially throw their coin in the wishing well is none other than MMA scribe, Megan Olivi.
Speaking to Mike Bohn, Olivi expressed her excitement about the possibility of Topuria defending his featherweight title in front of his home crowd in 2025.
“One I think we can all get on board with, and I would like for 2025, is to see UFC Spain. Ilia Topuria, let’s go headline a card in Spain. The fans would obviously love it.”
Although Topuria was hoping to have his first title defense in Spain, the UFC couldn’t make it happen. However, with his win over Max Holloway at UFC 308, the streets of Spain saw murals of the fighter, akin to those of Galacticos in the early 2000s.
A street artist has painted a mural of Ilia Topuria in the streets of Barcelona ⭐️
albertoleon_art / TikTok
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) November 3, 2024
So, with his star on the rise and Spain’s love for combat sports, the idea of a UFC event in Spain seems like a win-win.
The perceived problem with booking a fight in Spain, however, is that all the arenas are booked out in advance after the pandemic, making it hard for the UFC to secure a date or a venue.
But that’s not Alexander Volkanovski’s problem.
Volk says anytime, anywhere
Since his loss to Topuria at UFC 298, Volkanovski’s career has found itself rolling off a cliff. He was already coming off two title losses to Islam Makhachev but those being lightweight fights had only raised suspicions about the 36-year-old being over the hill.
Then came Topuria and suddenly the rumors of his demise were heard across continents. Now, well removed from the loss, with time to recover, Volk wants to re-introduce himself to the world as its featherweight champion. And he’s happy to do it in Spain if Topuria doesn’t show up in Sydney for UFC 312.
“I’ll be honest, I love Sydney and I want to fight in Sydney, but Madrid sounds good too.As long as I’m not waiting too long… I’d love for him to have his moment in Spain… hopefully we’re not waiting years for it, that’s the only problem.”
Alexander Volkanovski wants to fight Ilia Topuria in Spain as long as the fight doesn’t take too long to schedule:
“I’ll be honest I love Sydney and I want to fight in Sydney but Madrid sounds good too. As long as I’m not waiting too long…
I’d love for him to have his… pic.twitter.com/GSr7WMufz5
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 27, 2024
Is it a good idea to provoke the wrath of the notorious Santiago Bernabeu? Thousands of away fans who have had the misfortune of visiting the stadium for decades would suggest otherwise. But what does Volk have to lose at this point in his career?
