UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria is hoping to ask Lionel Messi to his subsequent combat, if it’s staged in Miami, and hit again at Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, who’s a recognized fan of blended martial arts, criticised the Georgian forward of UFC 308 in October and predicted he would lose to Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi.
The Al Nassr striker was filmed telling former MMA champion-turned-boxer Francis Ngannou and his coach Eric Nicksick that Topuria, nicknamed El Matador, “speaks an excessive amount of” and “didn’t combat with the highest guys”.
Topuria promptly knocked out American Holloway within the third spherical and is now seeking to stage his subsequent combat in South Florida.
If he does, solely one of many two biggest footballers of their era can be invited, and it’s not the Portugal captain.
Actual Madrid fan Topuria informed Cade Cope’s El Partidazo present: “The one I’m going to personally invite there [in Miami] is [Lionel] Messi as a result of he lives there, so f*** Cristiano so long as Messi exists.”
😬🍿Ilia Topuria is RUTHLESS
Ilia: “F#ck Cristiano so long as Messi exists”
Presenter: “I didn’t see this one coming, Ilia”
Ilia: “Volkanovski and Holloway didn’t see it coming both”
🎥@partidazocope 🔹 pic.twitter.com/dixly8nteU
— Dwelling of Struggle (@Home_of_Fight) December 10, 2024
Requested about Ronaldo’s feedback, he added: “I didn’t perceive it, to be trustworthy. I noticed the clip that got here out speaking about me speaking an excessive amount of. If Cristiano says it, one thing doesn’t add as much as me. Cristiano at all times talks.”