Paddy Pimblett has some fairly large fish to fry.
After extending his unbeaten streak to 6 contained in the Octagon with a first-round submission victory over King Inexperienced in July, Pimblett was handed the massive alternative of his profession to this point, in opposition to former UFC title challenger ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler.
A win over Chandler at UFC 314 would skyrocket Pimblett into the light-weight high 10 and probably put him one win away from his first shot on the division’s high prize.
As for who that one win might come in opposition to, ‘The Baddy’ already has a couple of names in thoughts, together with former featherweight king Ilia Topuria who’s slated to make his 155-pound debut later this 12 months.
“(I’d rather see) Islam Makhachev (holding the belt), I don’t think (Topuria) gets near him,” Pimblett mentioned on the UFC 314 press convention 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.”
might we lastly see paddy pimblett and ilia topuria settle their rivalry contained in the octagon?
No official bulletins have been made concerning Topuria’s light-weight debut, however ‘El Matador’ not too long ago teased one thing large on the horizon. Some speculated {that a} scrap between Topuria and Irish megastar Conor McGregor might be coming down the pike. However in all probability, Topuria would be the subsequent man to problem light-weight titleholder Islam Makhachev.
In fact, Pimblett and Topuria aren’t any strangers to 1 one other. The pair received into an altercation whereas in London for a Battle Night time card in 2022.
Issues have been largely quiet between the 2 since then, however Pimblett tried to reignite the rivalry following Topuria’s knockout of Max Holloway final 12 months.
“I can’t wait for him to come back to lightweight, I still think I’d beat him,” Pimblett mentioned on his YouTube channel.
Maybe Pimblett will get his want in spite of everything.
