The UFC has come under some criticism after fans hoped that a UFC champion’s dream would come true.
Following his knockout of the year contender in the main event of UFC 317, Ilia Topuria continues to be one of the biggest stars in the sport.
From his social media following to Topuria’s recent record-breaking trading card, the rapid rise of ‘El Matador’ has been one of the biggest talking points in all of MMA.
The UFC lightweight champion has an incredible ability to bank on his own self-confidence when predicting his remarkable accomplishments before realizing them.
However, it looks like one of his biggest ambitions is off the table at this moment in time following Dana White’s comments on bringing the Octagon back to Topuria’s home country.
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Fans criticize the UFC after LFA announces that it’s debuting in Spain in several months time
In his post-fight press conference following UFC 317, Dana White claimed that hosting a UFC event in Spain “isn’t even an option right now”.
The UFC CEO is still confident that they will eventually bring the Octagon to Ilia Topuria’s home country at some point in the future but the dream of seeing ‘El Matador’ walk out in a huge stadium in front of his home fans doesn’t seem any closer to happening.
Thanks to promotions like Topuria’s WOW FC, the MMA scene in Spain has been growing in recent years, which has attracted some interest from overseas organizations.
The Legacy Fighting Alliance, or LFA, has been a prominent promotion for some time with many current UFC stars cutting their teeth on the roster before going on to achieve success inside the Octagon.
Predominantly based in the United States, with occasional events being held in Spain, LFA recently announced that they’re set to make their European debut with an event in Tenerife, Spain on September 27.
While the scale of what a UFC event in Spain would look like compared to this upcoming card is drastically different, fans still took the opportunity to criticize the MMA leader on social media for being one step behind.
‘Dana is an idiot acting like he physically can’t make a Topuria Spain card possible.’
‘UFC doing a test run? LFA is owned by or at least heavily influenced by the UFC no?’
‘LFA going to Spain before UFC is comical.’
‘Did you not hear? It’s apparently not an option for the largest MMA organisation!’
‘I was told by that was not an option for the UFC. Sorry bro.’
‘Why would we do that when we have the world’s most famous APEX available every weekend?’
‘HILARIOUS that UFC has to keep working and keep working and LFA is like, no problem.’
Dana White hypes up potential super fight for Ilia Topuria in the future
During a recent appearance on the Full Send Podcast, Dana White mentioned the highly-anticipated matchup between Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev as a huge fight for the future.
While fans were disappointed when the fight didn’t take place at UFC 317, White said that if Makhachev is able to win the welterweight title, a champion vs champion clash could take place.
“Another massive fight would be Ilia vs Islam too… The other thing is too that Islam moves up and obviously if Islam won the title, you immediately have a super fight with him and Ilia.”
It has been somewhat taken out of context that White is stating that this will be next for Makhachev if he wins the belt when he was seemingly only suggesting that this fight is possible down the line.