Teddy Atlas doesn’t believe Paddy Pimblett has what it takes to dethrone new UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) faced off with Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) inside the Octagon immediately after the Spanish-Georgian star’s title win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 last weekend. The moment led revered boxing analyst Teddy Atlas to speculate that the UK star could be next in line to challenge for Topuria’s belt.
“Well, we've got a taste in the ring after,” Atlas said in a video posted to his YouTube channel when asked who he thinks Topuria might face next inside the Octagon. “Paddy the Baddy, it looks like. Yeah, he's been on our show, Paddy the Baddy. You know, that's a big money fight. I mean, listen, I like Paddy. I think he's gotten better. I think he's improved. There's no doubt about it. He's a tough guy (and) all that. But I'm not picking him over Topuria. I mean, I'm just not. He keeps his chin up too high in the air. I know he's got a good chin, but he keeps it up too high, and this guy's going to find your chin.”
Having served his apprenticeship under legendary Hall of Fame trainer Cus D’Amato and gone on to coach multiple world champions, Teddy Atlas is one of the most qualified analysts in combat sports to evaluate a fighter like Ilia Topuria. And in his view, “El Matador” is about as close to perfect as he’s seen inside the Octagon.
“He's the best striker in the UFC right now, probably in the MMA world, period,” Atlas said. “But, man, he's great on the floor too. He's great on the floor. His grappling skills and everything else that goes with that. There's no weakness. There's no apparent weakness. And the thing he has, what Cus D'Amato used to say, that Cus told me. The only people he ever saw that had this was Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali: supreme confidence. Really, the belief that you can strap him to a lie detector and the line's going to be straight.”
While Topuria proved he could hold his own with Charles Oliveira on the ground at UFC 317, it was in the striking exchanges where he ultimately found the finish—becoming the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes while remaining undefeated.
Atlas, who has an eye for elite-level striking, is a big fan of everything Topuria brings to the table.
“It was magnificent,” he said of Topuria’s devastating knockout. “It was a brutal sport. Had something very sweet in there to be able to get that result. I just want people to appreciate that, to see that, to understand that. He is the real package. He really is. I mean, he's physically the package. He's technically the package. He's mentally the package. And he's got what I always talk about, what great champions have to have. He's smart. He's cerebral. He thinks. He digests things. He breaks things down in his mind. He's great.”
