Does Paddy Pimblett hold the key to beating Ilia Topuria?
Once upon a time, Pimblett and Topuria were separated by a single weight class, making their potential meeting inside the Octagon unlikely. However, that is no longer the case after ‘El Matador’ vacated his featherweight title in a bid to move up and challenge for the 155-pound belt.
He’ll do exactly that on Saturday, June 28, when he squares off with Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight championship — a fight Pimblett will undoubtedly have his eyes on.
After securing a big win over ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler earlier this year, Pimblett is the eighth-ranked contender in the lightweight division, putting him potentially one big win away from his first shot at UFC gold.
“Paddy went on to say, ‘We’ve already talked about game plans to beat him, and I know how to beat Ilia,” former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping said on YouTube while discussing the possibility of a clash between Pimblett and Topuria. “No one goes for his weaknesses when he fights him. Everyone just tries to have a boxing match with him. I’m not going to come out and have a boxing match with him, I’m going to beat him with my all-around MMA game.’ As I said, ‘No, I beat him bad.’
“Of course, that is always the game plan—shut everyone up, put him in his place, take the belt, make loads of money, and walk off into the sunset. I don’t think everyone chose to fight Ilia’s type of fight because they didn’t have a different game plan—no, it was because Ilia stopped them from executing their game plan.”
Bisping believes the time is now for Paddy Pimblett
Thus far, Pimblett is a perfect 7-0 inside the Octagon and is showing signs of improvement with each passing performance. Whether or not he’s good enough to beat Topuria remains to be seen, but ‘The Count’ thinks of Pimblett leans into his ground game, he could very well become the first man to beat ‘El Matador.’
“If I’m training Paddy, or Paddy’s coach, the game plan would be to dance around, use the leg kicks, avoid a boxing match, shoot him, get a double-leg, push him up against the fence, stall him, frustrate him, do whatever he can to take him down—because that’s Paddy’s best element of his game plan,” Bisping said. Whereas Ilia Topuria, he’s got good jiu-jitsu, he has got very good wrestling, but it’s the power in the hands that make all the difference. It’s the power in the hands which is why I’m picking him against Charles Oliveira, because I just think he’ll catch him at some point. But nothing is guaranteed in MMA—you cannot take anything for granted.
“So many ways to win and lose. I think for the most part, it’s just because Ilia is that good. He moves around the Octagon, he’s got excellent footwork, he controls the rhythm, controls the range, he’s a threat with the strikes, he stops the takedowns with his Greco-Roman wrestling background, and he forces them into a boxing fight. It isn’t because they go, ‘I’m gonna box this guy.’ Granted, Max Holloway did because that’s what Max Holloway does—that’s what Max Holloway did when he knocked out Justin Gaethje, that’s how Max Holloway has built a legendary career. He just got beaten by a better version of himself in some ways.”
“If you’re in the camp of Paddy Pimblett, if you are Paddy Pimblett, if you’re a coach, manager, whatever it is—it’s a good time because right now, there’s never been a better time to be Paddy Pimblett. The sport’s bigger than ever, they’re going to do a crazy promo, Ilia is going to call him out—bet your bottom dollar on it, take it to the bank.”
