Ilia Topuria already has a full dance card, but there’s always room for one more.
In February, Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to claim the featherweight title at UFC 298. The victory turned Topuria into a global superstar and set him up for a number of high-profile fights. The first of those appears to be a collision with newly-crowned “BMF” champion Max Holloway, who won the title at UFC 300 with a spectacular knockout of Justin Gaethje.
And though that bout is far from official, that’s not stopping Topuria from looking ahead toward bigger goals. “El Matador” has made no secret of wanting to bring the UFC to Spain in 2025, and once he claims the BMF belt on top of his featherweight title, there are a few matchups he believes would be fitting for such an occasion.
“If Conor [McGregor] beats Mike Chandler, we can fight for the BMF belt at 170,” Topuria said on The MMA Hour. “If [Sean] O’Malley defends his belt — which I have many, many doubts — that’s an exciting fight, too. So I don’t know. In my mind, I see a lot of big fights. Even with Volkanovski, it’s going to be huge.”
McGregor is currently set to face Chandler in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas. O’Malley, meanwhile, does not have a date set but will defend his bantamweight title against No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili sometime this year.
As Georgian fighters, Topuria is friends with Dvalishvili, and believes Dvalishvili is a difficult fight for O’Malley. But if “Suga” somehow wins it, then Topuria says no one can deny he will deserve at shot at the featherweight title.
“He’s fighting Merab and I truly believe Merab is going to whoop his ass,” Topuria said. “If he doesn’t, I will be waiting for him. Then he really deserves the shot. If he dominates his weight class, you have to give him the chance to move up to the next weight division. But right now, it doesn’t make any sense because he has a guy who is a No. 1 contender who really deserves the shot, Merab. And I truly believe that [Merab]’s going to beat him.”
For his part, O’Malley is very interested in a fight with Topuria. After defending his title with a five-round masterclass against Chito Vera at UFC 299, O’Malley called for a shot at the featherweight strap, even offering to go to Spain to do it.
Instead, Dvalishvili appears to be next, but that doesn’t mean the dream is dead. Topuria and O’Malley both attended UFC 300 and had a brief conversation at the event, where Topuria says they laid out the ultimate goal for both of them.
“I just told him, ‘Congratulations on your title defense,’” Topuria said. “He told me, ‘I’m going to defend my belt. You do your things, and we’re going to build the biggest fight in UFC history.’ This is what’s going to happen. If he defends the belt, that’s going to be the biggest fight in UFC history. And if we make it in [Madrid’s Santiago] Bernabeu [Stadium], even bigger.”
