Ilia Topuria continues to be the undisputed champion. This Saturday, October 26, the Spanish-Georgian faced Max Holloway in the UFC 308 main event at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, where he defeated him by KO in the third round, thus securing his maiden UFC featherweight championship title defense. Topuria is a well-known Real Madrid supporter, and before El Clásico (a match between Madrid and arch-rivals Barcelona), he even made the prediction that the result would be in favor of the white team.

But while his prediction did not stir much controversy, a recent interview where he picked one footballer over the other in a series of rounds surely made him a target of many football fans. Especially his fellow Real Madrid supporters. But why did other Madridistas turn their backs on one of their most famous supporters of the club? Well, that’s because Ilia Topuria surely made a controversial pick in the GOAT debate.

In a recent clip that’s going viral on the internet, Ilia Topuria played a game where he had to choose one soccer (football) star over the other, and the one who loses will be eliminated while the chosen pick gets compared to a new footballer until one stood tall in the end. Topuria surely was in a mood to create controversy as he picked Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal over Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham. He also came across other names such as Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and Luka Modric.

But he truly stirred the pot when he had to choose one between Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo, two Real Madrid legends. While having favorites is truly a subjective opinion, the general consensus would be that Ronaldo is better than Zidane as per most opinion polls done online. So when Ilia Topuria chose Zidane, it truly made many furious. However, fans truly went up in arms after Topuria then chose Barcelona legend Lionel Messi as the true soccer GOAT over Zidane and others.

This truly was something that is rarely said by a Madridista. And this act surely wasn’t going to go unnoticed by the fans. Real Madrid fans are already quite upset after Barcelona defeated their club by 4-0 in the El Clásico, and to now have a major fan like Ilia Topruia turn his back on the consensus club GOAT truly made their blood boil. As a result, fans were quick to share their thoughts in the comment section.

Fellow Real Madrid fans rally against Ilia Topuria

As soon as the Spanish-Georgian made the statement, fans were quick to attack him in the comments. Many of them simply stated that the UFC featherweight champion has no football knowledge and is simply making statements based on the recent facts he saw online. They wrote comments like, “Zero ball knowledge. Focus on your UFC mate”, “Bro has 0 football knowledge,” and “0 ball knowledge. Bro started watching football last year.”

Topuria seemed like he was favoring Spanish players over others for the most part. He chose Barcelona’s Spanish players over Real Madrid’s stars (Lamine Yamal over Mbappe and Bellingham, Iniesta over Modric, etc.) But that did not curry any favor with the Galacticos, despite a few odd comments applauding his football knowledge. The question he pondered the most over was ‘Zidane or Cristiano Ronaldo?,’ and went with Zidane after a good long thought, only to be slandered by fans.

Some even went as far as claiming that even Zidane himself would not pick Cristiano Ronaldo over him. A statement that the French world champion actually once made. He said, “Yes, I think Cristiano is much better, although I had a good career. What he does every day, every game, is  phenomenal.”

So, fans were quick to remind Ilia Topuria of the same as they wrote, “Even Zidane would pick Ronaldo,” “Zidane actually did say Ronaldo is better,” and “Zidane over Ronaldo?” EVEN BARCA FANS DISAGREE😂😂”

The race between Ronaldo and Messi to be the top soccer star of the generation, and possibly of all time, was arguably the most iconic rivalry in global sports. Their names were synonymous with their Spanish clubs. So it’s almost sanctimonious to hail the rival club’s legend as the GOAT, as Topuria just did. But the UFC star is not all too wrong either.

Lionel Messi won the FIFA World Cup in 2022, along with a few other trophies with Argentina over the last few years, silencing criticisms about his performance with the national team. These achievements concluded the GOAT debate for many, including, apparently, Topuria also.

Many Madridistas even claimed that the Spanish-Georgian fighter is actually a Barcelona fan who is pretending to be a Real Madrid fan instead. In fact, ‘El Matado’s response was instantaneous – ‘Messi,’ he said, when asked ‘Messi or Ronaldo?’ So this user called the UFC featherweight out to reveal his true identity. He wrote, “Bro is 100% varca fan.” Another user called Topuria a Barcelona fan and urged him to stick to MMA instead. “Stick to UFC varca Kid.”

Well, it surely looks like the UFC featherweight champion is in troubled waters now. But what do you think? Was his pick really that controversial? Let us know in the comments.