Spanish UFC champion Ilia Topuria has long since gone beyond just fighting in the Octagon. In parallel with his career in the world's premier promotion, he has been systematically investing in the development of mixed martial arts at home in Spain. In 2024, Topuria became a co-owner of the WOW FC promotion and turned from a mere UFC star into a full-fledged sports entrepreneur. And recently another global brand joined the project – Cristiano Ronaldo. The irony is that Ilia himself has always openly professed his love for Lionel Messi.
The Regional Project That Became the Face of Spanish MMA
WOW FC (Way Of Warrior) emerged in 2019 as a local promotion conceived by former fighter David Balareso. Its goal was both simple and ambitious at the same time: to build in Spain a platform for the growth of fighters who no longer fit into the confines of only UFC or One, yet had long outgrown the level of amateur tournaments.
The first event was held in the conference hall of the Novotel Madrid Center hotel. But the format quickly outgrew the boundaries of a "homemade" show. WOW cards started rolling out across major cities – Madrid, Bilbao, Alicante and others. The promotion leaned on a clear formula: exciting local prospects plus invited fighters from Europe and Latin America.
Step by step, WOW FC turned from a regional platform into the main showcase for Spanish MMA, where young athletes are tested and prepared for the next level.
Topuria Enters the Game and Puts WOW on the Global Stage
In November 2024, the promotion went through an important reshuffle. Balareso stepped down as CEO, Arturo Guillen became the executive director, and Ilia Topuria bought a stake and formally turned into a co-owner and key investor.
From that moment the league's recognition accelerated sharply. The UFC lightweight champion became the main face of the brand: he regularly appears at events, steps into the Octagon, interacts with the crowd, gives interviews and plays to the cameras much the way Conor McGregor does when he shows up at BKFC shows.
Soon after Topuria came in, the promotion signed a deal with UFC Fight Pass, Dana White's streaming platform. WOW fights are now available to viewers all over the world, and inside the country the league has secured broadcast slots on local TV channels and streaming services such as Movistar. It is no longer just a "regional tournament in a hotel", but a stable player on the European scene.
The Dagestani Champion and an International Roster
WOW cards feature Spanish stars, fighters from Eastern Europe and Latin America, and plenty of young prospects. At the same time, one of the promotion's main protagonists unexpectedly turned out to be a Dagestani fighter – Umahan Ibragimov (9–1).
Ibragimov has long lived and trained in England and has already obtained a British passport. There he became champion of the British Fighting Championship league and made a big name for himself on the local scene with a brutal high-kick knockout he scored literally in the fifth second of the fight – right after his opponent behaved dirty during the glove touch.
After a successful run in BFC, Umahan fought in Cage Warriors – the promotion from which dozens of fighters have gone on to the UFC. A main UFC contract has not materialised yet, but right now Ibragimov holds the lightweight title in Topuria's league and regularly tops the cards. In his most recent outing, at WOW 20, he spectacularly knocked out Ignacio Capella in the first round.
Sellouts in Madrid and a Path to Bigger Arenas
The next WOW event is scheduled for 13 December at Madrid Arena, which holds around 12,000 spectators. Notably, there will not be a single Spaniard in the two main fights of the evening.
Umahan Ibragimov will defend his belt against Dutch fighter Brian Hoo. In the second headliner, Moldovan-Irish featherweight Nikolai Grozdev will face Welshman Brett Johns – the same Brett Johns who fought seven times in the UFC between 2016 and 2020 before moving on to Bellator.
This event will be the promotion's 25th numbered card, and it is far from the first time the league is aiming to fill an arena in Madrid. Topuria himself is looking even further ahead: he openly dreams of staging a show at Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid's home stadium. On Joe Rogan's podcast, Ilia said that his ideal scenario would be to defend his UFC title in that legendary arena. Dana White has already admitted in interviews that the UFC is considering Spain as a venue for a future event.
Messi in His Heart, but Money With Ronaldo
Against this backdrop, another superstar has joined WOW – Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese icon has officially invested in Topuria's promotion and publicly explained his choice by saying that MMA embodies values close to his own: discipline, respect, character and a constant drive for improvement. He stressed that he believes in WOW's potential and wants to help take the sport to a new level, inspiring a new generation of athletes.
Executive director Arturo Guillen called Ronaldo's arrival "a historic moment" and a symbol of the project's ambition and perfectionism. Topuria also welcomed him, thanking Cristiano for his trust and saying that together they will raise MMA to a new height and help thousands of fighters believe that the impossible is possible.
This is where the story takes a funny twist. Ilia is a Real Madrid fan, yet he has always said that his main football idol is Lionel Messi. He has openly admitted that he wants to model himself on the Argentine: he admires Messi's calmness, modesty and the way he remained the best in the world for so many years. In Topuria's dreams there are two people he wants to meet: Messi and Michael Jordan. Moreover, he once admitted that as long as Messi is playing, "to hell with Cristiano Ronaldo".
He has already realised his dream of meeting his idol: after an Inter Miami match, Topuria spoke to Messi in person and later said that seeing Leo in real life impressed him even more – above all with his simplicity and humanity.
The Pre-Fight Exchange and a New Format of Cooperation
Before Topuria's title fight with Max Holloway in 2024, there was even a public spat between Ilia and Ronaldo. A video spread online in which Cristiano discussed the bout and said that Topuria "talks too much", and explained the win over Alexander Volkanovski by saying that Volkanovski "simply wasn't ready for the punch". Ronaldo added that he would truly respect Ilia only if he beat Holloway.
Topuria's response was harsh. He said he had not expected someone of Ronaldo's stature to be unable to distinguish confidence from arrogance and wished Cristiano all the best "in what is left of his career", separately mentioning his family.
Later Ilia said that he "really doesn't like" Ronaldo and wondered how an athlete with such media experience could so freely judge a person he doesn't know personally. At the same time, he was sure that Cristiano's opinion would turn into the opposite after a face-to-face meeting. It seems that meeting did in fact happen – otherwise Ronaldo would hardly be investing in a project where Topuria is not just the figurehead but the main shareholder.
When the Octagon Brings Together Fans of Different Legends
The story of Topuria and WOW FC is a telling example of how modern sport has long gone beyond the limits of a single promotion or a single martial art. A UFC champion is building a national league that fills arenas in Madrid, gives opportunities to a Dagestani champion and former UFC and Bellator fighters, negotiates with UFC Fight Pass and at the same time brings one of the most famous footballers in history in as a partner.
Ilia still marvels at Messi, Ronaldo remains a global symbol of football, yet in business they now sit on the same side of the negotiating table. For Spanish MMA this is the perfect combination: a UFC star plus a brand of CR7's calibre. And for fans it is a chance to see how the Octagon and big arenas gradually erase the line between football and fighting myths, turning them into a single universe of big sport and big stories.
