UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has mapped out a two-fight plan.
Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) expects his first title defense to be against former 145-pound champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC), who knocked out Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April.
However, Topuria still has his sights set on a megafight with Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who returns against Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 headliner on June 29. “El Matador” is confident he could sell out the Santiago Bernabeu stadium when the UFC makes it’s expected debut in Spain next year.
“I hope to defend the belt with Max Holloway, and then I want a fight with Conor McGregor hopefully,” Topuria told Sportskeeda. “If he wins his upcoming fight, that’s the fight I’m looking for. So hopefully it’s going to happen.
“It’s going be the biggest fight in MMA history – the biggest ticketing, the biggest pay-per-view, the biggest everything. We’re going to have like 80,000 people watching the fight (in person).”
Ideally, Topuria wants the Holloway fight to take place in fall.
“My target is to come back in September,” Topuria said. “Right now, we are in the conversations, so we’ll see. If Max Holloway is able to fight in September, we have a fight. If not, maybe we are going to the end of the year or something like that. I want to fight as soon as possible because next year, I want fight in Spain.”