A former UFC champion believes no matchup today carries more weight than a potential showdown between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett.
Last weekend in the main event of UFC 317, Topuria made his dream a reality, stopping former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira with a brutal first-round knockout to capture the vacant 155-pound title and cement his status as a two-division UFC champion.
Immediately after his emphatic victory, "El Matador" came face-to-face with Pimblett in a tense staredown inside the Octagon that quickly escalated into a heated exchange. The newly crowned champion punctuated the moment by shoving the Brit, adding fuel to what now seems like an unavoidable showdown in the making.
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Topuria and Pimblett’s rivalry traces back to March 2022, when the two nearly came to blows in a heated altercation at the fighter hotel ahead of UFC London. What began as bad blood quickly escalated into full-blown animosity, with tensions flaring again during a near brawl at the UFC 282 pre-fight press conference.
Since then, both men have repeatedly taken shots at each other in interviews and on social media, keeping the feud very much alive. Now, with Ilia Topuria reigning as the new lightweight king, a long-awaited clash with "The Baddy" could be next on the horizon.
Michael Bisping Sees Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett As UFC’s Hottest Potential Matchup
During a recent video on his YouTube channel, Michael Bisping shared his thoughts on who should be Ilia Topuria’s first title challenger. While the UFC Hall of Famer acknowledged that elite contenders like Arman Tsarukyan and Justin Gaethje are waiting in the wings, he argued that the promotion would be wise to cash in on the long-standing rivalry between Topuria and Paddy Pimblett.
The biggest fight they can put on right now, outside of Islam, is Ilia Topuria versus Paddy Pimblett," Bisping said. “Saturday night, when they showed all the celebrities, when they showed the fighters in the crowd, Paddy Pimblett got the biggest pop by far… He resonates with the younger crowd and with everyone, because when they showed him on camera, the place went mental! He just beat Michael Chandler, he’s undefeated in the UFC, he’s got the history with Ilia—and that’s the fight they’ve got to make.
Bisping went on to explain that the deep-rooted animosity between Topuria and Pimblett adds a layer of intrigue and marketability.
We saw Ilia lose his cool for just a second—he pushed Paddy, allowed Paddy to get into his head. He had the two belts on his shoulder, gave him the push, the belts almost fell off his shoulders… It just shows Paddy’s ability to get under people’s skin. That fight sells itself—two people who genuinely dislike each other. You don’t really get that. We haven’t seen that since Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and [Conor] McGregor—two people who actually hate each other.
