UFC 314’s Paddy Pimblett Puts Ilia Topuria at the Top of His Three-Man Hitlist

Paddy Pimblett has some pretty big fish to fry.

After extending his unbeaten streak to six inside the Octagon with a first-round submission victory over King Green in July, Pimblett was handed the big opportunity of his career thus far, against former UFC title challenger ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler.

A win over Chandler at UFC 314 would skyrocket Pimblett into the lightweight top 10 and potentially put him one win away from his first shot at the division’s top prize.

As for who that one win could come against, ‘The Baddy’ already has a few names in mind, including former featherweight king Ilia Topuria who’s slated to make his 155-pound debut later this year.

“(I’d rather see) Islam Makhachev (holding the belt), I don’t think (Topuria) gets near him,” Pimblett said at the UFC 314 press conference on Friday.

“After I beat Chandler I’d love to fight Ilia next but we’ll see what happens. I’d love to fight (Dustin) Poirier, I’d love to fight (Charles) Oliveira, I just wanna fight someone who will get me a title fight because obviously that’s what we do this for.”

could we finally see paddy pimblett and ilia topuria settle their rivalry inside the octagon?

No official announcements have been made regarding Topuria’s lightweight debut, but ‘El Matador’ recently teased something big on the horizon. Some speculated that a scrap between Topuria and Irish megastar Conor McGregor could be coming down the pike. But in all likelihood, Topuria will be the next man to challenge lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev.

Of course, Pimblett and Topuria are no strangers to one another. The pair got into an altercation while in London for a Fight Night card in 2022.

Things have been mostly quiet between the two since then, but Pimblett attempted to reignite the rivalry following Topuria’s knockout of Max Holloway last year.

“I can’t wait for him to come back to lightweight, I still think I’d beat him,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel.

Perhaps Pimblett will get his wish after all.