“Let’s go, I’m ready,” UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria said at the start of his conversation with Athleticism. Unlike most interviews, this one appears to be conducted by the interviewee rather than the journalist.
Topuria (15-0) became titleholder last month at age 27, defeating one of the UFC’s best pound-for-pound fighters, former champion Alexander Volkanovski, by second-round knockout. It was a moment he said he would never forget.
“Nothing will be like this even if I win it a thousand times because it was the first (UFC title),” he said. “These are inexplicable moments that we are so grateful to be able to experience.
“It’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen, but I’ll tell you one thing. I kept telling myself that I would never give up, no matter what, that I would fight until the end to achieve my goal. It’s perfectly clear to me.
Topuria said he is already working towards his next goal: a fight at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
“I’m very confident that it will be this year, in 2024. It’s very, very, very, very possible,” Topuria said. He wouldn’t reveal any more details, but said he and the UFC were in talks for the event to take place.
“There are a lot of things in the works,” Topuria added. “If there is a world champion, how can he not progress? Everyone is in talks. This is confidential data on ongoing negotiations with different institutions. But when have I said something that wasn’t done? It is a fact. It is inevitable that this will happen. I rarely miss my goals.
HE IS KING 👑@TOPURIAILIA IS YOUR NEW FEATHERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION 🇪🇸🏆 🇬🇪 #UFC298 pic.twitter.com/eKRjZsP7yI
– UFC (@ufc) February 18, 2024
Topuria always speaks with confidence. He doesn’t seem to mind the possibility of fighting in front of 80,000 people, the capacity of Real Madrid’s stadium.
“I would fight in front of 100,000 people,” he said. “I always like to set big goals and the truth is that, in addition to bringing the UFC to Spain, it would be the best-selling event in the history of the UFC.”
The previous record attendance at a UFC event occurred in 2019 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, in front of 57,000 people.
But the Madrid Coliseum means much more to Topuria than writing history books. It was there, just a week after becoming champion, that he kicked off before the Real Madrid-Sevilla match. His idol Sergio Ramos – now a Sevilla player but once legendary Los Blancos captain – welcomed the fighter with open arms.
“Sergio Ramos’ total goal in overtime in Lisbon! Of course I like it, man. How can I forget it? he said. “I have a very good relationship with Sergio (Ramos), with (Luis) Figo, with Dani Ceballos. I always like to communicate with people in the same field as me, which is sports. How can I not learn from the guys who play for one of the clubs with the greatest sporting history?
“The first jersey I had was a Sergio Ramos jersey from Real Madrid. I have known Real Madrid since I was a child, when life brought me to Spain. The team that best represents the values of Spain and all the values it has… the Galacticos. It’s a team with a lot of history.
The wrestler was born in Georgia but moved to Alicante, Spain, when he was 15 and said he feels as much Georgian as he does Spanish. That is why, upon his return from California with the UFC champion belt, he was also received by the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who admitted that he practiced mixed martial arts.
“We talked a little bit and he told me he had played several contact sports (and) had quite a bit of knowledge about them,” Topuria said. “He obviously doesn’t practice it but he knows a little bit about some fighters, mixed martial arts.”
During the same visit, the president inquired about the citizenship of Topuria, who has lived in Spain for more than a decade but has not yet obtained citizenship.
“Tomorrow I finally took the oath of allegiance,” Topuria said on March 14, “and then I will go and have my long-awaited (Spanish) ID card printed.” The truth is that the president has made the process much easier for us.
It is a new step forward for the wrestler, who is gradually making his way onto the podium of the pioneers of Spanish sport alongside Rafael Nadal, Pau Gasol and Fernando Alonso. However, he prefers to keep his feet on the ground.
“I think I’ve had a big impact on people, but I don’t think that’s a question I have to answer,” he said.
What the Spanish-Georgian fighter does not deny is that his way of being and his fights made a strong impression in Spain.
“The message is that everything is possible in this life. With sacrifice and hard work, you can achieve any goal in life,” he said. “I think my example was an awakening for a lot of people.”
(Photo: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)