UFC Champion Ilia Topuria Left Jaw-Dropped as Idol Lionel Messi Nets Goal at Inter Miami vs Colorado

Ilia Topuria watched his idol Lionel Messi score a jaw-dropping goal live. The UFC Featherweight Champion was present at Inter Miami’s home stadium when they hosted Colorado on April 7, 2024. Topuria was seated in the VIP booth alongside Messi’s family and cheered the Argentinian on as helped his team mount a comeback.

Although Colorado scored the first goal just as the first half came to an end, Inter Miami brought on Lionel Messi in the 46th minute. The Argentinian made an immediate impact and Miami fought back despite being one goal down. Eventually, in the 56th minute, Franco Negri made an advanced run before crossing the ball to Messi, who nestled it into the bottom corner of the goal.

Of course Leo Messi scored on his return from injury

(via @MLS) pic.twitter.com/nHAZ8IDgSJ

— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 7, 2024

Despite being fresh out of an injury, Messi led his team from the front and Miami even went on to score a second goal in the 59th minute. However, all their hard work came to no avail as Colorado equalized in the dying minutes. Thus, Topuria had to settle for a draw, even though he was still mesmerized by the Lionel Messi stunner.

The Spaniard is a diehard Lionel Messi fan even though he has always identified himself as a Madrid supporter. Topuria has also talked about how the Argentine inspires him to become a better version of himself.

Coming back to the UFC, Max Holloway, who is currently preparing to take on Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, spoke about a potential fight against Ilia Topuria.

Max Holloway looks forward to fighting Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title

Max Holloway is preparing for his BMF title shot against Justin Gaethje. The pair will face each other at the historic UFC 300 card.

Ahead of his fight, in an interview with TMZ Sports on YouTube, Holloway spoke about a potential fight against Ilia Topuria:

“Topuria is down there (at 145 pounds), a lot of guys are saying a lot of stuff about Topuria. I would love to go down there and get my title back.”

Although Holloway will be fighting Justin Gaethje at lightweight, he has left the door open for a return to featherweight. In fact, ‘Blessed’ insisted that if can best Gaethje in the upcoming fight, he will be looking to go down to featherweight just to get the title back from Topuria.

Hence, it will be interesting to see how the outcome of the Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway match will affect Topuria in the long run.