Paddy Pimblett disagrees with UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria jumping the line at lightweight.
A lot of talk has been made about Topuria targeting lightweight champion Islam Makhachev to manufacture a superfight between UFC titleholders with a combined 43-1 record. Makhachev is seemingly short of challengers after recording a record fourth straight title defense, while Topuria is coming off of back-to-back knockouts over 145-pound legends Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan recently stated he didn’t care Topuria only has one title defense, he wants to see “El Matador” vs. Makhachev sooner rather than later. Pimblett disagrees.
“I can’t see Ilia fighting Islam,” Pimblett said on the Blood Red podcast. “He’s only defended the belt once, normally you need to defend the belt, like, three times, and he’s not that big of a star to just jump. He’s not [Conor] McGregor. To just jump right up and fight for the other belt, so I can’t personally see that happening, but we’ll see what happens.
“I heard Ilia’s headlining the [UFC] 314 event against Volk, but you don’t know until nothing’s finalized with the UFC. I’ve been told this and that in the last few weeks, last few months, and we’ll just see what happens.”
Pimblett brings up the example of Conor McGregor, who famously won the UFC featherweight title in 2015 with a 13-second knockout over Jose Aldo and was then immediately booked to challenge lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. That bout fell through due to dos Anjos suffering an injury, leading to McGregor splitting a two-fight series with replacement Nate Diaz and then going on to defeat Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to claim the lightweight belt.
As Pimblett points out, McGregor was the biggest box office draw for the UFC at the time, which meant he played by his own set of rules (McGregor didn’t defend the lightweight title either, instead booking a massive crossover boxing match with Floyd Mayweather). As popular as Topuria is in his adopted home of Spain, Pimblett still doesn’t think he merits special treatment as far as getting a title shot against Makhachev.
Pimblett and Topuria have feuded in the past, but for now “The Baddy” has other opponents to worry about. Rumors have swirled around him possibly fighting Michael Chandler or Dustin Poirier, but Pimblett warns not to listen to social media scuttlebutt, and what he can say for now is that he plans to fight at UFC 314 in Miami.
“I always tell people not to take no notice of them stupid Twitter pages,” Pimblett said. “They all just talk absolute pony. They just do anything for clicks, but I’m open to fight on 314. Miami. Never been to Miami, so I’m hoping to fight on that. That’s my plan.”
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