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Paddy Pimblett walked into UFC 317 one of several possibilities for Ilia Topuria’s next fight, and walked out with the bout pretty much in the bag.
Topuria took the UFC lightweight title with an impressive win over Charles Oliveira, knocking the former champ out halfway through the first round. “El Matador” had no issue with Oliveira’s size, and proved the power in his hands remain a weight class up. It’s gonna be tough for anyone at 155 to defeat him, but Paddy Pimblett is convinced he has the gameplan to do it.
While Pimblett isn’t even in the lightweight top 5 rankings, he is one of the biggest names in the promotion and has been feuding with Topuria for years now. When Topuria suggested ‘that blonde p—y’ might be next, “The Baddy” was quick to get in the cage and sell the grudge match. A shouting match and a shove later, and we already have the ingredients for a huge fight. It’d be hard for UFC to go another direction with all the demand this fight is already generating.
“Looks like I could end up being the champion before I even expected it,” a pleased Pimblett said during the UFC 317 post-fight show on ESPN.
The Liverpool native made it clear that he doesn’t like Topuria.
“We’ve got history,” he said. “You don’t even need to sell that fight. It sells itself. Two people who genuinely dislike each other, you don’t really get that. We haven’t seen that since Khabib and McGregor. Two people who actually hate each other. Because I hate him. I wouldn’t even wanna finish him fast. I’d wanna finish him with a minute left in the fight after I’ve elbowed him seven hundred times. I wanna disfigure him.”
The biggest hurdle to making this fight is the perception that Paddy would have no chance. But that’s just more fuel for the fire as far as Pimblett is concerned.
“Nine out of ten people probably think he’ll knock me out,” he said. “And I love proving people wrong. It just gives me this warm fuzzy feeling inside, just making people eat their own words. People always said I’m not top level. Said I wouldn’t get ranked, and I wouldn’t get top 10. And look, doing both. People have always said I’ll never be champion.”
Pimblett believes his size and willingness to take the fight to the ground where he excels will help him succeed where others failed.
“He’s got brilliant boxing,” Pimblett admitted. “He’s got very good hands. He’s got power. When he swings them hocks, lad, you need to get out of the f—ing way.”
But “The Baddy” is just too big for the former featherweight champion.
“He didn’t get a big push,” he said of the in-cage shove from Topuria. “He got a little one. He feels weak. He’s small.”
Following UFC 317, Dana White refused to put his stamp of approval on Topuria vs. Pimblett, and was unhappy about their faceoff in the cage. But as far as Paddy is concerned, that’s the only way to go.
“I can’t be booked with anyone else now,” he said. “That’s simple as that, I’m fighting him next and I’m gonna take his little head off for him.”
