UFC boss Dana White has teased the idea of Ilia Topuria headlining the first big UFC Paramount card next year.<\/p>\n
As we know, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will want to make a big splash when they begin their partnership with Paramount in 2026. As such, there\u2019s been a lot of speculation regarding who could take part in the first major event on the network \u2013 and one of the names that keeps popping up is none other than UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.<\/p>\n
RELATED: Paddy Pimblett would \u2018love\u2019 to fight Ilia Topuria in enemy territory: \u2018Do it in Spain in front of your fake countrymen\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n He\u2019s already achieved some great things in mixed martial arts but as we look ahead to the future, it certainly feels like Topuria has a whole lot left to give the sport. He is young, he\u2019s marketable, and he\u2019s one of the most exciting fighters in all of combat sports. All that\u2019s left right now is for the promotion to book him<\/a> in another fight.<\/p>\n With many believing he\u2019ll battle Justin Gaethje in his next outing, Dana White provided an update on the Paramount card in question, as well as Topuria\u2019s chances of being a headliner.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n White\u2019s view on Topuria headlining first big UFC Paramount card<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally today,\u201d White told reporters after the final episode of Contender Series when asked about planning. \u201cMatchmaking was today, and we started working on the first Paramount card today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a possibility,\u201d White said when asked about \u201cEl Matador.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always going to try to put on the best cards that we can,\u201d White said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a great relationship with ESPN, and we were talking earlier, everybody is already starting to feel it. There\u2019s a lot of relationships between the ESPN team that comes to all the fights and works and the UFC team, and everybody is starting to feel it coming to the end here. They\u2019ve been great to us, and they\u2019ve been great to the sport. We want to put on a badass last card for them.\u201d<\/p>\n