Paddy Pimblett Reveals His Plan to Make Ilia Topuria Rivalry Even Bigger

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Nearly four months after suffering his first defeat at UFC Freedom 250, Ilia Topuria is finally back in training. The Spaniard was stopped at the end of the fourth round after his corner retired him against Justin Gaethje. While the former two-division champion has since accused Gaethje of tampering with his gloves and called for an immediate rematch, all signs currently point toward a grudge fight with Paddy Pimblett.

The rivalry between the two goes all the way back to UFC London in 2022, where they clashed during the event’s press conference and even threw bottles at each other at the hotel. Pimblett later trolled Topuria by pretending to purchase the red-corner stool used during the June 14 event for nearly $14,000, although the entire thing was, of course, untrue.

However, the bigger story is that Pimblett has repeatedly talked about finally sharing the Octagon with Topuria. Now, the Liverpudlian has come up with an interesting idea to make their rivalry even bigger.

Paddy Pimblett Wants to Replicate Conor McGregor’s UFC 194 Performance Against Ilia Topuria

During a recent interview with Kolos MMA, Pimblett suggested that he and Topuria could coach against each other on a season of The Ultimate Fighter before finally settling their differences inside the Octagon. The Englishman believes the added mental pressure would give him another advantage over Topuria.

He said, “I have no fight booked at the minute. I would love to fight Ilia Topuria. I’ll beat him that bad that I’d send him back down to featherweight.”

Pimblett also talked about replicating Conor McGregor’s famous 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194, where the Irishman captured the undisputed 145-pound title.

He claimed, “I think me and Ilia Topuria would be a brilliant season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ because I’d get under his skin so much that when we come into the fight, I’d beat him just as fast as (Conor) McGregor beat (Jose) Aldo. ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ would be a very entertaining six weeks, to say the least, if it was me and him.”

 

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With both fighters now back in the gym, fans were expecting the UFC to potentially announce the grudge match for UFC 335 on December 12. However, that card is rumored to feature a middleweight title fight between Sean Strickland and Nassourdine Imavov. That could leave January or even February 2027 as potential windows for Topuria vs. Pimblett.

Still, there is one major problem with the TUF idea. The Ultimate Fighter simply isn’t as big as it was during its mid-2000s peak. The show would take around six weeks to film, followed by another four to five months of production before the episodes are ready to air. Once it starts, the season would then run weekly for roughly three months.

In other words, fans could be waiting more than 10 months before seeing Topuria and Pimblett finally fight. And this is a rivalry that arguably doesn’t need that much buildup.

Both fighters already have plenty of star power, and Dana White has even suggested that the matchup could headline a numbered UFC event without a title on the line. Now, it will be interesting to see which route the UFC ultimately chooses for what could be one of the biggest grudge fights of 2027.