Paddy Pimblett has a huge obstacle ahead of him with a fight booked against Benoit Saint Denis in the UFC 329 co-main event, but it’s impossible for him to avoid questions about a win setting up a potential showdown versus Ilia Topuria later this year.
But as much as Pimblett has lobbied for that fight in the past, he doesn’t expect Topuria to serve as his next opponent if he gets through Saint Denis on July 11. Truth be told, Pimblett doesn’t buy that Topuria is even going to be ready to compete again before 2026 is over considering all the damage he absorbed in his title fight loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC White House.
“Everyone keeps saying, ‘Fight Ilia next,’” Pimblett told Spinnin Backfist. “That man’s face is mashed up. He’s not coming back before the end of the year and I’d like to fight again before the end of the year.
“So we’re just going to see what happens As you know, everything unfolds crazy in MMA. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. So let’s just see what happens next.”
Pimblett had the chance to set up his own fight against Topuria earlier this year, but he came up short in his bid to win the interim UFC lightweight title after dropping a decision to Gaethje back in January.
As much as he wanted to win that fight and then face Topuria for the undisputed belt, Pimblett felt there was almost some higher power at work to ensure that Gaethje would earn that opportunity instead so he could compete on the historic White House card in June.
“I’ve got no animosity towards Justin Gaethje,” Pimblett said. “He beat me. Better man won on the night. I think it was fate for him to beat me so he that could beat Ilia on the White House lawn and be the American in the main event who wins the title. I just think it was destiny.
“That’s why nothing happened over the eye pokes [in our fight] It was just destiny. He was meant to beat me so he could go and win on the White House lawn.”
In a perfect world, Pimblett would love to eventually get the chance to settle unfinished business with Topuria and also take the title from Gaethje, but both situations are hypothetical at this stage of the game.
The bad blood towards Topuria is always going to linger in the air and Pimblett promises if they ever meet, that is the last time “El Matador” ever competes at 155 pounds.
“I always say it: We have weight classes for a reason,” Pimblett said. “Ilia Topuria is a fat featherweight. He’s not a lightweight.
“If I ever fight him, people will realize that. If he fights me, he will move back down to [featherweight]. Because he will realize how small he is for the weight.”
As far as running it back with Gaethje in the future. Pimblett knows there’s a path back to that rematch but it’s going to take more than just a win over Saint Denis to get there.
In fact, Pimblett isn’t even pretending that a win at UFC 329 gives him the right to call for that fight just yet but he expects to run into Gaethje again in the future.
“Obviously, I’d love that rematch. I’d love to fight Justin again,” Pimblett said. “I know I’ve got to work my way back to that. I can’t just beat ‘BSD’ and be like yeah, I’m next against Gaethje. I know that I’m probably going to have to beat BSD and then beat someone else.”
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