Ilia Topuria was already one of the biggest stars in the sport but at UFC 317, his stock continued to rise.
Topuria and his team appeared to celebrate his victory before they had even stepped inside the Octagon.
The undefeated star was incredibly confident ahead of his fight for the vacant lightweight title where his performance justified his comments.
Topuria stopped Charles Oliveira in the first round before facing off with Paddy Pimblett to set up a huge lightweight title fight.
The new champion’s display received a lot of praise, with Joe Rogan going as far as to say that he might have to break his one UFC rule in order to watch him compete.
READ MORE: ‘Looks scared’… Paddy Pimblett’s live reaction to Ilia Topuria’s ruthless UFC 317 KO divides fans
Joe Rogan admits that he might have to travel to Spain to watch Ilia Topuria, especially if he fights Islam Makhachev
So far in 2025, Joe Rogan has been present for five of the seven PPV events that the UFC has hosted.
The two that he has missed out on, UFC 315 and UFC 312, have taken place overseas with the long-time commentator taking a step back from international cards some time ago.
While this means that he has missed out on some huge events, including Ilia Topuria’s win over Max Holloway at UFC 308, Rogan could reverse this rule for one specific occasion.
There has been a lot of talk in recent times about Topuria bringing the Octagon to his home country of Spain for the first time.
The new lightweight champion has previously stated that while he would love to put on a UFC event inside the massive home of Real Madrid, he isn’t keen on the idea of fighting in the early hours of the morning so that the card could take place on US time.
Following Topuria’s win, the UFC commentators spoke on the broadcast about what is next for Topuria, as Rogan spoke about how badly he wants to see the new champ face Islam Makhachev.
He added that if the UFC are able to put on a homecoming show for ‘El Matador’, he would consider making the trip.
“I might have to go to Spain. I might have to go to Spain… I’ve always wanted to go to Spain anyways. Let’s go to Spain. I mean, Islam and him in Spain, come on. Come on.”
Journalist raises current red flags regarding Ilia Topuria bringing the UFC to Spain
In his post-fight press conference, Dana White said that while the promotion still intends on going to Spain at some point in the future, it “isn’t even an option right now.”
His comments were backed up by journalist Rodrigo Del Campo Gonzalez, who wrote on X about the current issues regarding hosting an event at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Bernabeu can’t host anything but football at the time, they’re having really bad permit issues with the city and the neighbourhood. They remodelled in part to do concerts, they were able to host some but paid over 2.5 million Euros in fines for noise violations.”
While Topuria bringing the Octagon to Spain would be huge, there are some big fights in his future that will be must-see wherever they take place.