Back when Ilia Topuria was getting ready to battle Max Holloway at UFC 308, Cristiano Ronaldo made a comment that greatly saddened the former Spanish champion. Ronaldo claimed that he defeated Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 because the Australian wasn’t ready for the kick. He said, “[Topuria] speaks too much… [Topuria] didn’t fight with the top guys. If he beats Max, I will respect [him].” Needless to say, ‘El Matador’ became pretty salty after that. 

Reacting to Ronaldo’s video on X, Topuria wrote, “I didn’t expect someone like you to be unable to distinguish between confidence and arrogance.” Nevertheless, he didn’t push it any further. Post that Topuria wrote after that was nothing but goodwill for Ronaldo and his family. But during his interview with Juanma Castano of El Partidazo Cope, ‘El Matador’ said, “I saw a clip where he said that I’m all talk. Cristiano, he always has something to say. I’m going to personally invite Messi because he lives there. I would like to fight the number one contender, who is Charles Oliveira. We have Messi, Ronaldo can f— himself.”

Well, Topuria had indeed moved on from supporting Ronaldo to standing up for Lionel Messi. He even decided to meet Messi and joined the evergreen Messi vs Ronaldo debate. This time, he stood in support of Messi, of course. He shook hands with him backstage and even got his jersey. Sharing the moment on Instagram, Topuria wrote, “With one of the greatest legends in sports history…. An example for me…. And a model for everyone #Excelencia #messi #Deporte.” 

Now, Topuria has already defeated Holloway. He even became the only fighter to ever knock ‘Blessed’ out cold. However, as ESPN MMA brings the meeting between Topuria and Messi back to the headlines, the sporting community gets deep into confusion. Let’s take a look at what the fans had to say about the Spaniard’s interaction with Messi and Ronaldo in the comments section. 

Fans left in confusion as Ilia Topuria’s words for Lionel Messi resurface 

The confusion began to rise as some of the fight fans claimed that the Argentine footballer was actually scared of the Spaniard. The comment read, “Messi scared of ilia he changed the sport.” On top of that, a few of the fans were wondering if Topuria wasn’t really a Real Madrid fan. Well, the lightweight contender previously claimed that he was indeed a supporter of Real Madrid. However, his actions spoke otherwise. One fan weighed in on this and wondered, “He s not a madritista?” Meanwhile, another fan warned Messi and wrote, “Messi bro… That’s a Madrid fan…. Snake with a smile bro….. Be careful.”

The calls against Topuria kept rising as many fans stood in support of CR7. One of the fans lashed out at the Georgian-Spanish fighter and wrote, “This imp is a fake Madrid fan hating on Ronaldo.” Some of the fans even claimed that Topuria was still upset about what Ronaldo said about him. One comment read, “Topuria still salty that CR7, the Real Madrid Superstar (his favorite team) criticized him.”

On the other hand, a few fans decided to reflect back on the time when Ronaldo decided to choose Holloway and Volkanovski over ‘El Matador’. One of the fans wrote, “Bro got ignored by Cristiano.” Another fan reasoned, “The only reason why he said ronaldo isnt the goat is because ronaldo said he was gonna lose.” Needless to say, Ronaldo was actually wrong here. After all, Topuria still remains undefeated. But things might change during his bout against Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. 

What are your thoughts on the unrest between Ronaldo and Topuria? Do you think ‘El Matador’s meetup with Messi would cause further trouble between the two? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.