Ilia Topuria predicts where MMA will be among the most watched sports in Spain

All of Spain will come to a standstill next Saturday, October 26, for two huge sporting events of interest to the country. One, football, is already traditional in our borders; the other, that of Ilia Topuria’s combatis more recent, but has sparked spectacular interest among sports fans. Thus, at 9:00 p.m., Real Madrid will host Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéuin a Clásico that comes with numerous incentives, among them, being the first in the League that Kylian Mbappé plays. And, when he is at break, many Spaniards will begin to tune in to the evening of UFC 308, in which the Hispanic-Georgian champion will seek to defend his world title against the Hawaiian Max Holloway.

Fighting, never better said, against the Clásico, is an overly complex task. But the question arises as to how far mixed martial arts (MMA) can go in terms of diffusion in our country. «I think he can be number one or two in sport in Spain, it is a matter of time. Obviously we have football, which will always exist. We always want it to exist because people have different sporting tastes, but I believe that MMA can be a sport that is at the top in this country,” said Ilia Topuria in an exclusive interview with ABC.

For now, the first step to consolidate the fan base in Spain is to maintain his reign within the UFC and continue expanding his legacy. But in addition, Topuria has taken a step forward from its more business side and has become a shareholder in WOW, the largest Spanish MMA league.

«A super interesting 2025 is coming and things are coming that no one expects. The sport will really just explode and it will be another dream that will come true for me, because the dream was for the athletes who dedicate themselves to mixed martial arts to feel that they really have recognition in the country where they practice the sport, to be recognized as athletes, who have aid, who only have to dedicate themselves to sport because I know how difficult it is when you dedicate yourself to a sport and at the same time you have to think about doing another job to be able to cover the expenses, to go to the championships , to simply buy clothes or supplements, everything an athlete needs. Well, all that is what I want to change. “My team and everyone is super involved and working very hard so that next year those things will change,” the UFC champion says on ABC.