Ilia Topuria made it clear that he has moved past a potential matchup with Paddy Pimblett. In an interview with Hablemos MMA, the #9 ranked featherweight was asked and answered in Spanish about his thoughts on a Paddy Pimblett matchup. The fight is something Topuria has called for in the past, but his answer was much different this time around.
“He’s a person that media attention wise, he’s big. But as a fighter we all know he’s not worth anything. He’s not even ranked. He hasn’t done anything.”
Ilia Topuria Diminishes Paddy Pimblett Fight
Ilia doubled down on these comments, stating that fighters like Pimblett don’t deserve big fights just because of popularity.
“So giving merit to a person that’s only where he is because he knows how to sell himself well, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. We’re athletes. In the UFC, the difference between them and other organizations is that here what’s valued is the sport and Paddy, sporting wise, hasn’t achieved anything. That’s why he doesn’t interest me at all.”
Quotes via Yahoo Sports
The two have made headlines before with multiple interactions on social media and a hotel-lobby argument that led to a hand sanitizer bottle being thrown. It seems that if the dust hasn’t settled between the two, Topuria is just at a much farther point in his career than Pimblett despite having less popularity.
Title Shot Next for Topuria?
Topuria is 13-0 in his career with a 5-0 record in the UFC. Coming off a dominant submission over Bryce Mitchell at UFC 282, Topuria has finished 12 of his 13 fights. Topuria looks to grab his 13th finish in just 14 fights this weekend.
Ilia Topuria takes on #5 ranked featherweight Josh Emmett on Saturday, June 24th at UFC Jacksonville. With a win, he enters his name directly into title conversations and could be next in line for a shot. With Volkanovski and Rodriguez fighting just 2 weeks after his fight with Emmett, an impressive win could be the key to a title shot.
While it seems the saga between Ilia and Paddy has come to a standstill, we’ll likely hear something again soon.
How close do you think Ilia is to a title shot and should a fight with him and Pimblett happen? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
