Stoking the flames on his apparent rivalry with Ilia Topuria once more, UFC 314 star Paddy Pimblett once more hit out at the Spaniard- summing him up to just one rather derogatory British slang.
Pimblett, who returns to action this weekend at UFC 314, takes on the biggest hurdle of his Octagon career to date. Matched with former title-chaser Michael Chandler, the Liverpool star will feature over five rounds for the first time in his brief promotional stay.
Paddy enters the octagon off the back of a perfect six-fight run, with his last fight having come in July 2024 with a potential Submission of the Year performance against veteran King Green.
Ranked 12, Paddy now hopes to defeat Chandler and move up into serious title contention at 155 lbs. Asked for ‘one-word’ responses when hearing certain fighters’ names, Pimblett was both blunt and praising.
Hvaing referred to current pacesetter Islam Makhachev as the “champ”, Pimblett was less than impressed by the man trying to fight Islam. Hitting out at the Spaniard, Pimblett labelled him a “chorizo” – the name for a Spanish sausage variation.
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Interestingly, however, also involved in a rivalry with former interim champion, Dustin Poirier — Pimblett was somewhat coy. Labelling the Lafayette striker a “diamond”, Pimblett seemed quite reserved on the mention of the veteran fighter, who refused to fight him for his retirement match.
Of course, according to Paddy, Topuria deserves no such luxury.
Pimblett shuts down Topuria title fight claims
Claiming he has no interest in seeing Topuria at the lightweight limit, Pimblett offered an interesting caveat, however. As he laid out plans to beat a slew of fighters en route to a premiere title charge, Pimblett revealed he had an ideal scenario in mind already.
If he wins the belt next year, Pimblett has vowed to defend the championship opposite the soon-to-be ex-featherweight champion.
“I don’t want him (Ilia Topuria) to be champ,” Pimblett said during an interview with Full Send MMA.
“I don’t want to be champ at all. F*ck that midget. I’d rather win the belt, then he can fight me for the title when I got it. And then I’ll have my first defense smashing his little teeth in”, he continued.
“This is my time,” he noted, adding, “I’ve got to come in and show everyone the old guard is fading out and the new guard’s coming through. And I am one of the new guard.”
In the meantime, Topuria continues to remain stumped in his own pursuit of the lightweight title. Set to vacate his featherweight strap at UFC 314, the unbeaten finisher has set his sights on lightweight spoils.
However, his call to fight Makhachev has so far fallen on deaf ears. Earlier this year, reports claimed a potential title fight between Makhachev and two-weight champion hopeful Topuria was targeted for UFC 317 in June. Unfortunately, Islam’s immediate plans don’t involve fighting any more featherweights.
