By Dice City Sports Robert Lamar
Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett has been brewing for a while now. The two fighters鈥 bitter rivalry started when they got into a scuffle at the fighter hotel in March 2022 ahead of that year鈥檚 UFC London event. Topuria went on to make his lightweight debut that weekend when he knocked out Jai Herbert in Round 2. Pimblett scored a first-round rear-naked choke on Kazula Vargas. Both fighters left good impressions in the Octagon that weekend.
Topuria, 28, has now managed to springboard past Pimblett despite having worked his way to championship status in the featherweight division first. In UFC 317鈥檚 main event. Topuria absolutely blitzed Charles Oliveira with a first-round knockout in their vacant title match up to become a two-division belt holder. The No. 8-ranked contender Pimblett entered the Octagon during the post fight interview. seemingly setting up an inevitable showdown between the two.
鈥淟ooks like I could be the champion before I even expected it,鈥 Pimblett said on the UFC 317 post-fight show. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got brilliant boxing, lad. He鈥檚 got very good hands. He鈥檚 got power. When he swings them hooks, you need to get the f*** out of the way.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got history. You don鈥檛 even need to sell that fight. It sells itself. Two people who genuinely dislike each other. You don鈥檛 really get that. We haven鈥檛 seen that since like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, two people who actually hate each other. Because I hate him.