Topuria calls on UFC to book Santiago Bernabeu Stadium fight in Spain

Following a quick and violent win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 to capture his second divisional title, Ilia Topuria is look to take the UFC back to his home of Spain.

Topuria has been talking about a big fight at the 85,000 seat Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid since knocking out Alexander Volkanovski in February 2024. Since then he’s knocked out Max Holloway, and now Charles Oliveira. And now he wants that homecoming fight against longtime rival Paddy Pimblett.

“Yes, that’s the fight that I want,” Topuria said of Pimblett at the UFC 317 post-fight press conference. “Because with Charles, I had a little bit of a difficult situation because I really like the guy, you know? He’s a really great human being. You can’t hate him. You always see him surrounded by his family, friends, teammates. He’s an amazing human being.

“At the end I was like, ‘This is competition. I have to do my job, and that’s it.’ But with Paddy, I’m really gonna enjoy kicking his ass.”

Topuria has been back and forth on a Spain fight recently, revealing the UFC told him a fight there would have to take place at 4 a.m. local time like UFC 304 in Manchester. That’s obviously terrible for everyone, so “El Matador” said he’d rather fight Pimblett in the U.S. than subject his fans to that. But perhaps this latest major win has him feeling more confident in his demands.

“I want to take you to Spain for that fight in the stadium, in Santiago Bernabeu Stadium,” he told the assembled press. “The whole week, you will enjoy it. Nice food, everything. You are gonna love it. I wanna take you guys to Spain.”

He reiterated that in a longer answer to the Spanish press.

“It is inevitable that Spain is going to happen,” he said through a translator. “Yes. It’ll be great to be in the Santiago Bernabeu against Paddy Pimblett. And we’re talking about Champions League finals level. Think about Spain, Georgia, all the British people coming over. And as far as this being the greatest fight ever? I don’t wanna diminish the importance of so many great fights that have been around the block. But it would be an amazing fight.”

UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly signaled that Spain has been a struggle for the company to solve. But if we don’t get that, at least we might get this Pimblett fight sooner rather than later.

“I could be ready by the end of the year if they want me,” Topuria said of a return. “If I get the call from the UFC and they want me to get back in the octagon by the end of the year, I will be ready.”