Ilia Topuria wants a fight with Paddy Pimblett next, but he isn’t confident that the matchup will take place.
Topuria took care of business at UFC London with an impressive come-from-behind win over Jai Herbert. After getting rocked with a big head kick in the opening round, Topuria bounced back in a big way with a big right hook that slept Herbert in Round 2.
Topuria was making his lightweight debut after competing at featherweight for the majority of his career. The fight was taken on short notice after Herbert’s original opponent, Mike Davis, withdrew with an injury.
Topuria and Pimblett engaged in a heated altercation during fight week at their hotel, with the two fighters nearly getting into an all-out brawl. Topuria’s animosity towards Pimblett stems from Pimblett’s previous comments mocking Georgia, his home country.
Topuria used his post-fight Octagon interview to call for a fight with Pimblett before Pimblett earned a first-round finish over Kazula Vargas.
During his UFC London post-fight press conference, Topuria gave his thoughts on the chances of Pimblett agreeing to a fight with him.
“Paddy? Never, never ever,” Topuria said. “I don’t think so, maybe if Dana stay with him with a gun, maybe yes. If they force him to go inside the cage with me, maybe. Otherwise, I don’t think so. I don’t think he has the balls to fight me.”
Tensions between Topuria and Pimblett have escalated following their altercation. Topuria has recently claimed that if he and Pimblett were alone in a room, he would kill Pimblett.
Topuria is now 12-0 in his professional MMA career with four straight wins in the UFC. Before his win over Herbert, he earned finishes over Ryan Hall and Damon Jackson at featherweight.
Pimblett’s win over Vargas puts him at 2-0 since signing with the UFC last year. He won his debut last September in a first-round TKO of Luigi Vendramini.
Pimblett appeared to downplay Topuria’s callout during his post-fight Octagon interview, referring to Topuria as a “sheep”. While it’s unclear if Topuria will fight at lightweight going forward, a fight between these two adversaries seems like a no-brainer.
Do you think we’ll ever see Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett?
