Newly crowned UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, fresh off his stunning knockout victory over Alex Volkanovski at UFC 298 in Anaheim, just made the cover of MARCA, the largest and most widely-distributed sports publication in Spain.
That’s kind of like Ronda Rousey scoring the cover of Ring Magazine, since MARCA — which focuses primarily on football (soccer) — is now featuring an athlete from a different discipline. Just don’t expect “El Matador” to receive the same pushback.
Must be all those PETs (Performance Enhancing Tannins).
Topuria, still just 27 years old, remains undefeated at 15-0 and could kick off a new era in the featherweight division, though not everyone atop the 145-pound ladder believes the fan-flattening champ is here to stay, particularly if this fight happens.
No word yet on when the German-born Spaniard (of Georgian descent) makes his return to the Octagon. Topuria is not convinced the featherweight division holds any credible threats — unless this champion retains, forcing impressionable fans to declare, “holy s—t.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
