Ilia Topuria wants a fight with Paddy Pimblett. Just don’t expect him to hold his breath waiting for it.
At UFC London on Saturday, Topuria scored one of the best knockouts of the year when he drilled Jai Herbert with a right hook in the second round. Pimblett was mentioned by Topuria in his post-fight interview. However, Topuria later seemed reluctant to talk about the English fighter backstage to media.
“Right now I feel so happy, I don’t want to waste my words about him, so f*** him,” Topuria said when first asked about Pimblett.
Earlier this week, the fighters had an altercation at the UFC’s athlete hotel that resulted in Topuria throwing punches at Pimblett and Pimblett firing back with a bottle of hand sanitizer. Topuria defeated Herbert while Pimblett beat Kazula Vargas in the first round.
Pimblett also dismissed the feud in his Wednesday interview with the media, calling Topuria “Mr. Hand Sanitizer.”
Topuria eventually shared his thoughts on Pimblett, stating that he thinks his rival will have to be held at gunpoint by UFC president Dana White to make the fight happen.
“Never,” Topuria stated. “Never ever, I don’t think so. Perhaps Dana could have stayed behind with him and a gun to force him into the cage. Maybe. Otherwise, I don’t think so. I don’t think he has the balls to fight me.”
“With Paddy, I don’t give a f*** about any weight class,” he added. “Even if he want to come and don’t make the weight, I’m gonna fight him. With Paddy .”
, I don’t care if he wants to come and lose weight.
Saturday marked Topuria’s debut at lightweight after previously competing at 145 pounds, a division that Pimblett has also competed in. Topuria’s 4-0 scores in UFC were better than his 12-0 pro score, which he believes puts him ahead of Pimblett.
“Really? He’s not there,” Topuria stated in Spanish. “He’s s***. No, he’s nothing. The one who’s ranked is me. Since I take it personally, if the UFC wants it, I can still fight him tonight in that hotel.
“But, if that doesn’t work out, I would like to return to 145 dollars. I want to go back to that business and finish it.”
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