‘The UFC’s Protecting Him From Me’

Ilia Topuria is convinced that a fight against Paddy Pimblett would be one of the biggest fights the UFC could make. Here’s why he thinks that’s not going to happen.

Ilia Topuria continues to stalk Paddy Pimblett in hopes of an eventual fight, even if he believes the UFC will never allow the two to step into the cage together.

Topuria fought Bryce Mitchell in the opening fight of the UFC 282 pay-per-view, mauling the previously undefeated featherweight before submitting him in the third round (watch the finish here). Pimblett competed later in the night, earning a questionable decision win over Jared Gordon in a low-action affair. It certainly made the two fighters seem pretty far apart in terms of talent.

“I feel like the UFC’s protecting him from me,” Topuria said during an interview on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know why. In reality, that’s the fight to make right now, because it’s one of the biggest fights in the UFC. We can perfectly sell a pay-per-view. That fight makes more excitement for people than championship fights.”

Topuria and Pimblett have been involved in a growing beef since Pimblett made light of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, saying Georgians were so ‘stupid’ ‘no wonder the Russians terrorize their lives.’ That led to an in-person confrontation at the UFC London hotel where Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria.

During the UFC 282 press conference, Topuria once again called Pimblett out, who responded by calling him a ‘mongrel’ and telling him to speak English. All just fuel for Topuria’s fire.

“I know that I’m going to knock him out,” Topuria said. “I’m way better than him everywhere. So right now, you have a fight against Paddy against who cares, I don’t think people are very excited about watching him fight. Because he talks well, he’s a great promoter, but as a fighter he sucks. Right now, I’m the guy. Everyone wants to watch me fight. You put me against anyone, they’re going to watch.”

Ilia did admit, though, that he felt it was the UFC avoiding the fight, not Paddy Pimblett specifically. Pimblett says he just accepts whoever the UFC offers, and Topuria knows the UFC isn’t offering him to Paddy.

“In reality, they never made an official offer to Paddy to fight against me,” he said. “I don’t think he’s going to turn down the fight, maybe yes. I don’t know, but the UFC didn’t want the fight, yet.”

Ilia Topuria sits in the No. 14 position at featherweight, while Paddy Pimblett remains unranked at lightweight.