It’s not often you’ll find a Real Madrid fan who hates Cristiano Ronaldo.
But this seems to be the case for UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Topuria has previously admitted his allegiance to Spanish giants Madrid, especially in the lead up to his last bout at UFC 308, but doesn’t have time for their club legend Ronaldo.
He walked out to the weigh-ins for his fight with Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi with former defender Sergio Ramos, who won 22 trophies, including four Champions Leagues and five La Liga titles playing for Real Madrid.
In February, soon after he became a UFC champion for the first time by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski, Topuria was given a standing ovation at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium — home of his beloved Real where they beat Sevilla 1-0.
The Georgian-born fighter, who moved to Alicante with his family 15 years ago, even got a pre-game hug from Ramos, who was then playing for Sevilla.
But Topuria has also made it clear where he lies in regards to Ronaldo.
Ronaldo had previously said the featherweight champ ‘speaks too much’ in a conversation with Francis Ngannou before UFC 308.
He also went on to say how he prefers Holloway to Topuria, but added ‘if he beats Max, I will respect [him].’
Topuria replied at the time saying he ‘didn’t expect’ someone like Ronaldo ‘to be able to distinguish between confidence and arrogance.’
He sat down with Spanish journalist Juanma Castano on Monday to announce his next UFC opponent in a special program of El Partidazo De Cope, which translates to Cope’s Big Game, where he continued to throw slander at Ronaldo.
Cope is the second most listened to Spanish language radio station in Spain’s generalist radio, and Topuria was interviewed at the Teatro Alcazar in Madrid in front of a live audience.
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“The person I’m going to personally invite is Messi because he lives [in Miami],” Topuria asserted, presumably speaking about his next fight.
“So f*** Cristiano as long as Messi exists,” he added, much to the amusement of the Madrid crowd, who erupted in laughter.
Castano then responds: “I didn’t see this one coming, Ilia,” before Topuria cheekily says: “Volkanovski and Holloway didn’t see it coming either.”
Topuria went on to announce that he has had his last fight in the UFC’s featherweight division.
He is unbeaten in the UFC since making his debut in October 2020, and has finished all but two of his opponents before the distance.
The 27-year-old even handed Holloway his first-ever KO defeat in his 12-year MMA career, after flattening him at UFC 308 in October.
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“Yes, for sure, I’m moving to lightweight,” he said. “Now It’s time to enjoy what I do, we’re leaving the weight cut.”
“I learned about eating once a day from Sergio Ramos; sometimes we train together. He’s been doing it hard.
“I am training well, after Christmas I will do some specific training. Miami was mentioned but I don’t know, I still have a couple of conversations pending.
“I am clear about how I want to do it: I would like to move up to the next category and against Charles Oliveira.
“Because Islam Makhachev, who is the champion, is fighting in January and will not be able to be there in April.”
UFC President Dana White announced this past weekend that Islam Makhachev would put his lightweight belt on the line in a rematch with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311.
The pair have already battled it out in the octagon in 2019 on a Fight Night card in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where Makhachev won via unanimous decision.
White also announced that Merab Dvalishvili will defend his bantamweight title for the first time against Umar Nurmagomedov in UFC 311’s co-main event.
The stacked California card also features Beneil Dariush vs Renato Moicano and Jiri Prochazka vs Jamahal Hill, in what is set an epic first UFC pay-per-view of 2025.