UFC CEO Dana White made this official, but he has yet to confirm a matchup between Makhachev and Topuria. Although Topuria has not made any public statements, fighter Paddy Pimblett wonders why Topuria wants to change weight classes. In an interview with Shak MMA, Pimblett shared his thoughts on why Topuria would make this move.
“I was thinking, ‘Wow, you’re stupid. Why have you moved up to this division?’” Pimblett told Shak MMA. “He’s tiny. He’s, like, 5-foot-5, 5-foot-6. I don’t understand. He has the audacity to call me fat when he’s saying he can’t make 145 anymore—when he’s a midget. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I think he ran from 145, to be honest, because he knew [Alexander Volkanovski], not coming off a knockout loss 12 weeks earlier, would give him a much tougher fight than his first fight with him. And then he also had [Movsar] Evloev and [Diego] Lopes to fight. I would have had a lot more respect for Ilia if he had defended that belt two more times. Then I think he could have kept his belt and not had to vacate it and move up to fight [lightweight champion Islam Makhachev] or whoever has the belt at the time. But I don’t think he deserves a straight title shot, and I don’t think the UFC does, either. I think he’s going to have to fight someone in the top three if he wants a title shot.”
The two fighters have had bad blood since an altercation in 2022, which led to Pimblett hurling a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria. Although the two have never met in the cage, it seems an opportunity may soon arise as Topuria shifts to lightweight. Paddy says he is looking forward to stepping into the cage with Topuria, but he hopes the fighter can draw as much attention as a fighter Paddy believes Topuria is trying to emulate.
“I think it’s the Conor McGregor effect,” Pimblett said. “Everyone wants to be Conor McGregor. Ilia Topuria’s the worst for it. He copied his chest tattoo and his back tattoo and all that; he just wants to be Conor McGregor. But you can’t be Conor McGregor when you’ve got the charisma of a tin of beans, so it’s one of them. I think everyone’s just copied the McGregor route.
“I just say it’s a lot more meaningful when you defend your belt multiple times, like what Volk did. Volk defended his belt about five times or something like that, and then he had the chance to move up to fight Islam. I think [Israel] Adesanya defended his belt at least three times, same with [Daniel Cormier]. ‘DC’ defended the light heavyweight belt multiple times and then moved up to fight for the heavyweight belt. But nowadays, champs are talking about going up and fighting people straight away. Belal Muhammad hasn’t even got a title defense, and he’s talking about moving up, isn’t he? It’s madness.”
Despite accomplishing the difficult feat of becoming the champ in the featherweight division, Pimblett says he doesn’t believe Topuria deserves a title shot. “Baddy” believes the fighter should work his way to the top rather than facing the champion in his first battle.
“I don’t think he deserves a straight title shot, and I don’t think the UFC does, either,” Pimblett said. “I think he’s going to have to fight someone in the top three if he wants a title shot.”
Pimblett is currently set to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 314 on April 12 in Miami. A win over the former Bellator star would propel Pimblett one step closer to a title shot.
