After what might be the greatest stretch of title-fight wins in UFC history, Ilia Topuria believes he’s earned the right to choose his next opponent.
Former UFC featherweight champion Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) became the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two weight classes while remaining undefeated, knocking out Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 to claim the lightweight belt.
The win over former lightweight champ Oliveira followed back-to-back knockout victories over the two most decorated featherweights in UFC history—Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
Immediately after his win, Topuria called lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) into the Octagon, where the two exchanged heated words before “El Matador” shoved the Brit across the cage.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Topuria explained why Pimblett is the opponent he wants for his first title defense.
“That’s the fight that I want because with Charles, I had a little bit of a difficult situation because I really like the guy,” Topuria said. “He’s a really great human being. You can’t hate him. You always see him surrounded by his family, friends, teammates. He’s an amazing human being. But at the end, I was like this is competition, I have to do my job, and that’s it.
“But with Paddy? I’m really going to enjoy kicking his ass.”
The tension between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett dates back to an altercation ahead of UFC London in 2022. Topuria called out the Liverpool native for comments Pimblett had made the previous year regarding the conflict between Georgia and Russia. Their feud escalated later that year when they clashed again at the UFC 282 press conference, and they’ve continued trading verbal jabs ever since.
While Topuria was competing exclusively at 145 pounds—a division below Pimblett—the chances of a fight between them seemed unlikely. That all changed this year when Topuria announced his move up to lightweight to pursue the title. Now that he’s accomplished that goal, his attention has shifted back to Pimblett.
UFC President Dana White expressed frustration with the post-fight faceoff between the two during his media appearance after the event. However, Topuria shrugged off any suggestion that White’s disapproval might prevent the fight from happening.
“Someone from my team told me that Dana was a little bit angry about that,” Topuria said. “But he wasn’t there, so maybe that has to happen.”
