Paddy Pimblett warns UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria about returning to lightweight.
Pimblett and Topuria have traded plenty of barbs in the past, but their careers took off in different directions with each fighter competing in their respective weight class. Pimblett made his debut in the lightweight rankings after a quick submission of King Green at UFC 304, and Topuria tore through the featherweight ranks en route to claiming the title.
Now, Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has his sights set on 155-pound gold, but Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is adamant that he wouldn’t have the size to compete with him.
“Ilia’s a midget,” Pimblett said in an interview with Daniel Cortes. “People don’t understand how much bigger I am than Ilia. I’m so much bigger than him – people don’t realize. I’d love to do a stare down with him, just so everyone can see how much bigger I actually am than him.”
Pimblett admits Topuria is a great fighter, but says he was given a fast route to the title. He thinks he has more work to do at featherweight before challenging Islam Makhachev, and would love to fight him at lightweight.
“Don’t get me wrong – he’s very good,” Pimblett said. “Just because I don’t like him doesn’t mean I’m going to sit here and lie. He’s a very good fighter. He is. But I also think he got fast-tracked to the belt because (Alexander Volkanovski) had cleared the featherweight division out already. I think he got fast-tracked to the belt. He’d only beat Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett and got a title shot. He didn’t even have to beat Brian Ortega or Yair Rodriguez or Arnold Allen. He skipped these fighters and got to fight for the belt just because Volk had cleared the division out, and I personally don’t think he knocks Volk out unless Volk got head kicked 12 weeks before by Islam. I think Volk fought far too soon. Volk was winning that first and second round until he got caught.
“I think the rematch is going to be very telling because, obviously, (Topuria) knocked (Max) Holloway out. Holloway’s never been knocked out, but he’s been in several wars. He’s took a lot of damage. I think if he beats Volk a second time and then beats a Diego Lopes, then yeah, he could go down as the best featherweight of all time. But he’s talking about coming up to lightweight when he’s only had one title defense. I think you need to defend the belt at least three times if you want to fight for the belt in the division above. If he wants to come to lightweight, I’m here waiting. I’ll be there to welcome him. I don’t think anyone else in the division has got more of a claim to welcome him to the division than I have. I’d love to have a fair fight with him and kick him all over the gaff.”
Topuria was asked about Pimblett in a recent interview on the “Full Send Podcast,” and “El Matador” explained where their beef stems from.
“Please, don’t even compare me to that bum because we are on different levels, and everyone can see that,” Topuria said. “He was very disrespectful to me, to my country, to all my people. He just behaved like a f*cking idiot. He started to talk about the war we had against Russia.
“He said something, ‘Now I understand why the Russians put the bombs in Georgia’ – and many kids died in that war. Many people died in that war. When you start to joke about that kind of thing, just make sure we don’t find each other anywhere because I’m going to take your f*cking head off.”
