Media Real Madrid, the biggest soccer team and most followed sports franchise in the world, collab posted with Ilia

[ocfightfan]

Good for him. May his bank account be filled with pesos.

 

[Trabaho]

There is no standard Spanish look. Some Spaniards look fair, others are darker. There are some differences between north and south, tho. Topuria could easily pass as a southern Spaniard.

I Can not pass for one. I think he can. I think he can pass for spain italy.

 

[brakkkop]

soccer and UFC used to be neck and neck

but now UFC is taking over

major footie clubs like Real Madrid has to chase clout from MMA fightewhat us

 

[Buff]

Quite extended in some idiots, but fortunately not everyone is like this. I only support my hometown team and the rest can fuck right off. En primera o en tercera. The other teams I sympathize with are : Athletic de Bilbao (for their only locals policy), Rayo Vallecano, Deportivo and Valladolid (because of good supporters relations with us)

Tbh I only really know Andalucia, Sevilla/Betis area, and, while everyone has a team from the two, they cheer louder for Real Madrid... One or two support Barca, but Real definitely has the following.

 

[brakkkop]

what kind of sport is soccer? i know football

 

[Elvis.]

I have to admit I don’t fully understand this , good for him , it’s excellent publicity for him and I hope he has a great reign as champion, but if Bo Nickel wins the Mw title should the Yankees or Cowboys congratulate him because he’s American? , seems odd to me
But admittedly I could be missing the plot entirely

 

[Buff]

I have to admit I don’t fully understand this , good for him , it’s excellent publicity for him and I hope he has a great reign as champion, but if Bo Nickel wins the Mw title should the Yankees or Cowboys congratulate him because he’s American? , seems odd to me
But admittedly I could be missing the plot entirely

Spanish folk support their athletes in a way that not many other nations do... They'll randomly start watching tennis to watch Rafael Nadal, or F-1 for Alonso as mentioned above... Football is like a religion - sure, American sports have a big following, but its nothing compared to the level of football in Spain, or Italy - you're talking religion-level fanaticism complete with fanatical violence...

MMA is the next big flash in Spain, and Ilia is an overnight household name there, on the cover of magazines, on TV, everywhere.. His team is Real Madrid - the biggest club in the world - he's a fanatic supporter, and talks about them a lot. They're returning the favour, and also cashing in on his success... It makes great sense for them.

To put this into context, Real Madrid's main rivals are Barcelona - this year The Rolling Stones are sponsoring their kit, and regularly attend games...

Its a pissing contest, basically...

 

[Busgosu]

...nothing compared to the level of football in Spain, or Italy - you're talking religion-level fanaticism complete with fanatical violence...

They normally say football is king here, but it would be more accurate to call it PHARAOH, lol. The following goes indeed way beyond any other sport.
However, violence has been drastically reduced in recent years. Back in the late 80s and 90s, during the heyday of the ultra movement, it was legit concerning.

 

[Buff]

They normally say football is king here, but it would be more accurate to call it PHARAOH, lol. The following goes indeed way beyond any other sport.
However, violence has been drastically reduced in recent years. Back in the late 80s and 90s, during the heyday of the ultra movement, it was legit concerning.

It's definitely more santisied now, and also lifetime bans, and "gentrified" pricing had cleared out a lot of the Ultras, in Italy too, albeit they still have more power than the managers at some clubs (Lazio, AC Milan, Parma, for example).

To be honest, in England it's the lower divisions where you get the most trouble now... Stupid games that you wouldn't think, teams like Oldham and so on that nobody's heard of outside of their own area... Obviously there's still some hardcore firms, but they meet away from the stadium to fight - empty markets, parks, that sort of thing... Throw a coin now, and its your last live game... This is why England fans are so notorious - no lifetime bans abroad, so all the old, fat tattooed up "guiris" get to go on drunken rampages together.

Eastern Europe is still pretty crazy, Greece, Turkey... But nothing compares to how the Argentinians do it - literally bringing guns to matches and so on, routine stoppages in play because of crowd trouble, flares, things being thrown onto the pitch, fighting with the armed police... And so on.

 

[DarthChen731]

Good for him but fuck Real

 

[Busgosu]

It's definitely more santisied now, and also lifetime bans, and "gentrified" pricing had cleared out a lot of the Ultras,

dude it's fucking crazy in here, they even random test for alcohol before entering the stadium in certain sectors. There was a couple of guys three weeks back here that were not admitted cause they tested positive for like 0,15, which is far less than what's allowed for driving.
Thank god they don't test in my area cause I would spend the whole season banned!

 

[Buff]

dude it's fucking crazy in here, they even random test for alcohol before entering the stadium in certain sectors. There was a couple of guys three weeks back here that were not admitted cause they tested positive for like 0,15, which is far less than what's allowed for driving.
Thank god they don't test in my area cause I would spend the whole season banned!

Which area are you from? What team is that?

That's a crazy rule, honestly... If they tried it in England the stadiums would be half empty, and quiet as a church... Clubs here try to out-do eachother by having the biggest bar possible - they even have quick-pour systems to give you a full pint in 3 seconds...



Tottenham Hotspur is the proud owner of the quickest pint, and the longest bar in England currently.

 

[DarthChen731]

Which area are you from? What team is that?

That's a crazy rule, honestly... If they tried it in England the stadiums would be half empty, and quiet as a church... Clubs here try to out-do eachother by having the biggest bar possible - they even have quick-pour systems to give you a full pint in 3 seconds...



Tottenham Hotspur is the proud owner of the quickest pint, and the longest bar in England currently.

Also the proud owner of 0 league trophies for 63 years

 

[Humongo]

There is no standard Spanish look. Some Spaniards look fair, others are darker. There are some differences between north and south, tho. Topuria could easily pass as a southern Spaniard.

He could pass as northern spaniard too, what the fuck are you talking about?

 

[Humongo]

Seems to me like sherdog are the ones actually finding out about Spain

 

[Buff]

Also the proud owner of 0 league trophies for 63 years

 

[Choco]

the UFC needs to change this flag if they want to reach their full potential in the Spanish market

No one cares.

MMA is the next big thing in Spain, and Ilia is an overnight household name there, on the cover of magazines, on TV, everywhere.. His team is Real Madrid - the biggest club in the world - he's a fanatic supporter, and talks about them a lot. They're returning the favour, and also cashing in on his success... It makes great sense for them.

Ilia might become popular among the Social Media dwelling generations, Gen-Zers and late millenials, but MMA becoming big in Spain... I'll believe when I see it.

To this day, the explicit editorial line of the biggest and old media behemoth states: "Not to publish information about Boxing competitions, unless to report accidents suffered by boxers, or shed light on the sordid world (verbatim) of this activity. Our editorial line is contrary to to boxing an therefore renounces to publish news that might contribute to its promotion."

The prohibition for minors to assist to a boxing match (even amateur fights, you finished your fight and you'd to fuck off the venue) as audience was lifted only months ago in the Madrid region. These prohibitions are still in place in many other areas.

The vitriol in the media when MMA began to pick a minimal (and very sort-lived) traction as a semi-underground in the mid-late aughts was brutal. And were are talking about unified rules MMA, not any oldschool NHB stuff.

Color me skeptic.

 

[Busgosu]

1) Which area are you from? What team is that?

2) That's a crazy rule, honestly... If they tried it in England the stadiums would be half empty, and quiet as a church... Clubs here try to out-do eachother by having the biggest bar possible - they even have quick-pour systems to give you a full pint in 3 seconds...

1) Asturias, Real Oviedo

2)Ikr, we used to get pissed in the stadium but all of a sudden it was forbidden to sell alcohol inside and now that we have to drink outside it seems it still is not enough... It's all because of the "violence" but as of now the only match where there is a real risk is in the derby vs Sporting. Fuck modern football.

I'd love to hit that Tottenham bar!

 

[blocnoir]

WOW

Cowboys, Yankees, Patriots, Giants, Rams, Knicks, Bears, Raiders are only sports teams worth more. Madrid is valued at $6.7 billion dollars. They have 153 million followers on IG. For reference Lakers have 24 million.

Feels like Ilia is on verge of being the biggest superstar in UFC. If Justin KOs or seriously hurts Max then Ilia might not have a real threat @ FW for a long time too.

Why are these teams worth more than Real? Like, literally all of their players could go anywhere outside of the US and no one would ever recognize them. While, on contrary, Real's players cannot go anywhere on Earth without causing a riot. Even in the US, some of the more famous guys couldn't take a walk calmly on the streets even if that sport is barely watched over there.

I mean no offense to any fan of these teams' sports (I guess there are more than one, or it's all american football?), just, weird stuff.

 

[Buff]

No one cares.



Ilia might become popular among the to dwelling generations, Gen-Zers and late millenials, but MMA becoming big in Spain... I'll believe when I see it.

To this day, the explicit editorial line of the biggest and old media behemoth states: "Not to publish information about Boxing competitions, unless to report accidents suffered by boxers, or shed light on the sordid world (verbatim) of this activity. Our editorial line is contrary to to boxing an therefore renounces to publish news that might contribute to its promotion."

The prohibition for minors to assist to a boxing match (even amateur fights, you finished your fight and you'd to fuck off the venue) as audience was lifted only months ago in the Madrid region. These prohibitions are still in place in many other areas.

The vitriol in the media when MMA began to pick a minimal (and very sort-lived) traction as a semi-underground in the mid-late aughts was brutal. And were are talking about unified rules MMA, not any oldschool NHB stuff.

Color me skeptic.

Totally agree with MMA not becoming huge in the same way that F-1, Tennis, and anything else that has a Spanish champion... But those Gen-Z/millennials are the fad chasers that spend money - lord knows sherdoggers don't buy much merch, and we're all masters of pirate streams...

"Popularity" is a question of perception - there are loads of tinpot MMA gyms around - Muay Thai, and Judo are both fairly popular where I hang out, I have various friends at various levels, but I only know one guy that's actually fought professionally there, and he's from Portugal...

Culturally MMA doesn't really fit in when folks live with your parents until they get married, which is definity a thing in Spain, and even more so in Italy... Having a black eye at a family gathering, which happens constantly is a big deal there, and not in the good way...

I didn't know about the prohibitions there - and they are significant... Media vitriol was definitely visible when it was "cage fighting", but now that there's a marketable "Spanish" champion I'm seeing people who 2 months ago refused to watch an Anderson Silva highlight reel posting stories about Ilia - it doesn't mean that they're training, but those are exactly the type of people who buy merch, and spend money to fit in...

The boom will last as long as Ilia does imo... There will be people more people training - Bisping had a massive influence on the UK, as did TUF 9 - it went from underground to mainstream, and then Conor came along, and now there's a UFC section in the sport pages of regular newspapers... I doubt Spain will follow suit to the point England, did because of the sheer volume of different sports available to them, football and futsal particularly.

You clearly know what you're talking about, so I'm in the "let's see how it plays out" category... But whichever way you look at it, suddenly there's some money behind it, and the vitriolic attitudes have softened...

I'll be there in a couple of weeks, I might bump this thread when I'm there and report back! Lol