Paddy Pimblett doesn’t believe that Ilia Topuria’s star has yet risen to the point that he can fight for double champion status.
The Liverpool native has shared a bitter feud with Topuria since their early UFC careers, and has had to watch as his rival quickly bypassed him to world title wins and pound-for-pound rankings. The featherweight champion is two years his junior, and has already won and defended a title.
Meanwhile, Pimblett is still attempting to climb up the rankings, with his next bout expected for UFC 314 in April. It is even being rumored that the pair may be about to share the stage as the Georgian could face Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch for his belt.
Paddy Pimblett believes Ilia Topuria hasn’t earned shot at a second title
While rumors are abound of a super-fight between Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title, one man isn’t so concerned. Paddy Pimblett has had a long-standing feud with Topuria and has always seemed to have first dibs if his rival were ever to return to lightweight.
And as he continues to rise through the ranks, he isn’t keen to see Topuria get a shot at a second belt despite only having one defence of his first one. “I can’t see Ilia fighting Islam,” he told Blood Red – A Liverpool Podcast.
“He’s only defended the belt once, normally you need to defend the belt like three times. And he’s not that big of a star, he’s not Conor McGregor to just jump right up and fight for the other belt so I can’t personally see that happening.
“But we’ll see what happens. I heard Ilia’s headlining the UFC 314 event against Volk, but you don’t know anything until it’s finalized with the UFC. I’ve been told this and that the last few weeks and months but we’ll just see what happens.”
Ilia Topuria has already knocked out two of the UFC’s greatest ever featherweight
Despite Pimblett’s protestations, Ilia Topuria has already established himself as a major star in the UFC. And with wins over two of the promotion’s greatest ever featherweights in Volkanovski and Max Holloway, he has certainly earned the respect of the sport.
Topuria may have had the benefit of Volkanovski returning too soon after a knockout loss to Makhachev last year. But there was no such excuse for Holloway, whose famously impressive chin finally came up short for a second round knockout at UFC 308.
Last weekend he was in Australia to corner his brother Aleksandre against Volkanovski’s charge Colby Thicknesse. But the seemingly obvious opportunity to face off again in promotion for a rematch was missed, leading to further speculation about what’s next for him in 2025.