Ilia Topuria has a documented historical past with Paddy Pimblett, and if each males win their subsequent bouts, the previous can be interested by preventing the latter thereafter.
The previous featherweight champion expressed this throughout a latest unique sit-down interview with the official UFC YouTube channel. Topuria prepares to struggle Charles Oliveira within the pursuit of changing into a part of the higher echelons in MMA historical past of fighters who’ve held belts in multiple weight class. Topuria vs. Oliveira is for the vacant light-weight title and serves as this yr’s Worldwide Battle Week headliner, with the large matchup serving because the UFC 317 major occasion.
When requested throughout this referenced interview about who might be subsequent if he will get his preferrred end result towards ‘Do Bronx’ this Saturday night time, Ilia Topuria mentioned,
“Hopefully, Paddy. Hopefully, he will get another struggle. He wins that struggle, after all, and eventually, we will be in the identical Octagon collectively. It appeared like a few years in the past it was unattainable to have that struggle. You have been preventing at 145, and he was at 155. Now, it’s one thing that may occur. It began with an actual London, now it’s actual. It’s only a matter of time. I believe it’s going to occur. In case you ask me, it’s going to occur.”
“Do I just like the Paddy type? I believe individuals will take pleasure in that struggle as a result of now we have a historical past behind us. Now we have a actuality since a few years. So, it’s going to be an incredible struggle and an enormous struggle. I believe everybody’s going to like that struggle. Why? As a result of it’s going to be an actual struggle. It’s not going to be one thing like we simply need to struggle one another. We respect one another, however now we have to struggle. It’s going to be an actual struggle.”
Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett’s rivalry historical past
Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett have had a beef with each other over the previous couple of years, with the previous Cage Warriors champion making some controversial feedback about Georgia, which clearly didn’t sit nicely with the proud Georgian/ Spanish fighter Topuria. The problems reached a fever pitch in London at a UFC Battle Night time in March 2022 with Pimblett throwing a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria in the course of the altercation.
Since then, the barbs back-and-forth between the 2 have continued over time with the 2 largely being separated by weight class as Pimblett fights within the UFC at light-weight whereas Topuria has largely been at featherweight with this solely being his second UFC bout at light-weight. Now that the 2 are in the identical weight class, a long-awaited conflict between the 2 might probably even come to fruition by the top of the yr if all falls into place.
