If Ilia Topuria would be asked, his next opponent would be Conor McGregor. And as if that plan is not huge enough, the young fighter wants to have that bout at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which has a seating capacity of more than 85,000.
Topuria still has to snatch the belt from featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 this weekend, but he already has plans for the future. In his recent interviews, “El Matador” said that he would set aside the top contenders of the class weight and aim for a McGregor fight. Volkanovski lambasted the idea, with other fighters like bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley questioning Topuria’s name to attract McGregor.
Despite all that, the Spanish fighter is still determined to get the big fight, even though the comeback timeline of “The Notorious” remains murky.
“If it was my decision, I’d fight Conor McGregor,” Topuria said during the UFC 298 media day. “That would be the fight I’d aim for, and that’s what I aim for.”
Needless to say, this plan would be huge as the venue has the second-largest seating capacity for a football stadium in Spain. UFC’s biggest live attendance in its history was the UFC 243 event featuring Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya, with more than 57,000 people attending live. Of course, the promotion would love it if Topuria could exceed this number, but for UFC CEO Dana White, Topuria still has a lot to prove.
“I don’t know about that,” White said regarding Topuria’s McGregor callout in an interview with Kevin Iole. “I think he’s got a lot to (prove). Listen, when you’re undefeated, you’ve never tasted defeat, and you’ve been on the rise that this guy is on, that’s the way you should be thinking, and that’s what your mentality should be. But we’ll see how it plays out on Saturday night.”
