Kylian Mbappé is not Florentino Pérez’s priority right now. As of today, the roadmap of the president of Real Madrid first goes through close the premiere of the UFC in Spain at the Santiago Bernabéu, and more specifically the first defense as featherweight world champion of Ilia Topuria.
Pulse with Barcelona
The enormous media dimension that the Hispanic-Georgian’s fight against Alexander Volkanovski acquired has convinced the white managers to put all their effort into the negotiations they have open with the owners of the UFC. Dana White, CEO of the competition, confirmed the expansion plans of the UFC and the options for Spain to be one of the first countries in which it lands: “Ilia Topuria is a great player and we will surely go to Spain. We don’t know exactly who Ilia’s opponent would be. It remains to be seen in which venue and when we will do it, but we will go to Spain.”
Those words confirmed what has been known for a long time, that the Bernabéu is one of the places that has shown interest in hosting the fights. In fact, White joked when asked about the white coliseum: “What capacity does the Bernabéu have? Is it closed? “If the pavilion is available, it could be done.”
The problem is that the Bernabéu is not the only suitor. Lawrence Epstein, vice president and director of operations of the UFC, also opened the door to landing in Barcelonawhich has forced efforts to accelerate to bring the fight to the Bernabéu: “We want to go. That’s the plan. We had said it and we are valuing Madrid and Barcelona. We are planning it right now. No matter where, the intention is to do the show in the next 12 or 18 months,” Epstein warned.
Topuria wants McGregor at the Bernabéu
The 12 or 18 months that Epstein was talking about will be reduced because Topuria has already made it clear that his intention is to defend the belt in a shorter term. And he has even given a face and name to the challenger he wants to face in his first defense. None other than Conor McGregor. The Hispanic-Georgian challenged the Irishman through the networks with a forceful message: “If you have the balls, I’ll wait for you in Spain.” To which McGregor immediately responded: “I have huge balls, I have four children.” The problem is that Conor has been out of the octagon for many months and could hardly lower his weight to fight in the Topuria category.
Florentino rubs his hands with this stellar premiere of the UFC and a fight with Ilia Topuria. The Hispanic-Georgian has been very forceful about it: “Fighting at the Bernabéu? I’ll stick with the Bernabéu. Being able to fight at the Bernabéu there is no other option. Always Bernabéu”.
Besides, The wrestler has been invited to take the kick-off in a Real Madrid match and the agenda is being squared with Ilia to see if he could do it in which the whites will face Sevilla next Sunday at 9:00 p.m.
Florentino Pérez promised to convert “The Santiago Bernabéu is a must-see place for the best events in the world of all kinds” and the UFC is next on a list in which concerts like Taylor Swift’s, NFL games in 2025 already appear, and now this premiere UFC fight in Spain is about to close with the entire planet waiting for it. The hypothetical defense of Ilia Topuria’s championship belt is confirmed. The president rubs his hands thinking about the arrival of Topuria, Swift… and Mbpapé.
2024-02-19 16:15:07
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