Paddy Pimblett is always beefing with one person or the other. This always leads to massive speculations about who the mercurial scouser will be fighting again. Now that he’s announced a return to the octagon, fans are wilding on Twitter, guessing who he might be going up against next, suggesting names from Jalin Turner to Ilia Topuria.
It has been a while since Paddy stepped in the cage; his last fight was in July 2024. ‘The Baddy’ secured a win against Bobby Green after which he stated that he wanted to take on tougher challenges in order to get a higher rank and eventually fight for the title. He was originally supposed to face Renato Moicano, but the Brazilian fighter pulled out of the fight due to an injury.
Paddy then went ahead and put on his usual off-season weight. But now that he’s lost it and has seemingly joined a camp, the recently ranked lightweight said,
“Have to get a few runs in, get the fitness back up and the weight back down. Getting ready for a fight. Obviously everyone doesn’t even know it still but got an opponent and it just needs to get announced.”
Paddy Pimblett says he’s got an opponent for the next fight:
“Obviously everyone doesn’t even know it still… it just needs to be to be announced.”
@PaddyTheBaddy ▫️ pic.twitter.com/7jobR0lF1A
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) February 8, 2025
There were some serious responses to his statement and people, like this man, claimed, “I think it’s Jalin Turner.” Another probably wanted to know why Paddy was relevant and asked, “Is he even ranked?”. “We left you in 2024 bum”, claimed another. However, why he thinks Paddy is a bum is yet to be known.
Is he even ranked?
— Frodobonecrusher (@MMansfield747) February 8, 2025
“Ilia vs Paddy?”- joked another suggesting that Paddy drop a few more pounds to move down to featherweight.
Well, whoever, it is, Paddy will hope to secure another win and move up in the rankings. He could have had that chance if a legend agreed to fight him. But alas…
Poirier not interested in carrying up-and-comers
Dustin Poirier’s final fight is starting to take shape. This means the search for a potential opponent is on. Now, make no mistake, Pimblett would be a great matchup for Poirier, at least stylistically. However, it’s not a good idea to match him up with prospective stars. Poirier has a good record of putting them down and killing their hype.
Last year, he fought Benoit Saint-Dennis, who was on a winning streak and was touted to be a future champion. BSD threw everything he had at Poirier at UFC 299 and Poirier made him look like an amateur.
Poirier would then use the win to challenge Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 and even though he wouldn’t win, the Dagestani champion had the fight of his life against the Louisiana native.
So, make no mistake, he’s not some out-of-his-element veteran on his way out. As such he has no interest in fighting a new guy once again. He comes from a generation of world-class lightweights and would preferably go out with them. Speaking to Jim Rome about the same, he said,
“Legends only, man.”@DustinPoirier tells me who he’s eyeing for a potential retirement match to close out his @UFC career, but it won’t be Paddy Pimblett. pic.twitter.com/0V9eGoQcu3
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) February 8, 2025
Poirier had over 50 cage fights and is ready to step away from the grind, focusing on other ventures and his family. He feels he’s done enough in the sport and wants to end his career with a fight that feels truly meaningful.
