"This was bound to happen" - Fans react to Ilia Topuria featuring on cover page of one of Spain's biggest sports publications 

Fans recently shared their thoughts on Ilia Topuria starring on the cover page of one of Spain's biggest sports publications.

MARCA is one of the biggest daily sports newspapers in Spain. The newspaper largely covers football, specifically the daily news of top La Liga teams Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid.

Recently, MMA Junkie reporter Danny Segura tweeted on X about Topuria being featured on the cover page of one of Spain's largest sports publications. He captioned the post:

''MARCA, the biggest sports publication in Spain, had Ilia Topuria as the cover of their daily publication. The fact that a soccer player is not on the cover is insane. Those who follow MARCA know how crazy this is. As mainstream as it gets.''

Fans soon rushed to the comments section to share their reactions.

One fan wrote:

''This was bound to happen, honestly before long Topuria will surpass Omalley in popularity, just watch''

Another fan wrote:

''Had Real Madrid won, they might have been on it. Also, not uncommon for a non-footballer to be on the cover: MotoGP/Alonso/Nadal all do so frequently.''

One fan mentioned Topuria's unexpected surge in popularity and wrote:

''He’s definitely going to be a huge star in Europe and beyond. If he can hold the title and get some more highlight reel finishes he’ll be mainstream and will headline UFC 300 esque events by 2025.''

Screenshot of fan reactions to Danny Segura's post on X

All of this came to fruition after the Spaniard pulled off the unthinkable by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski to become the new UFC featherweight champion at UFC 298 this past weekend.

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Ilia Topuria believes there is no challenge in the featherweight division

In his post-fight interview with Megan Olivi, Ilia Topuria disregarded many of the featherweight contenders and emphasized the importance of introducing new talent to the division.

When asked who he would like to make his first defense against, Topuria said:

"Right now? Nobody. The division really sucks. We need new challengers. We need a couple of more fights in the division. So, we'll see what's gonna happen in the future and hopefully, we're going to have some clear challenger but right now, there is nobody."

Watch the clip below: