What at one point seemed like a possibility, now seems like a mismatch, at least according to Ilia Topuria ’s coach Jorge Climent . Just two years ago, there was plenty of talk of a potential fight between Topuria, who now holds the UFC featherweight title, and lightweight star Paddy Pimblett . The two fighters got into a short skirmish at the host hotel for UFC Fight Night 204 in London back in March 2022, and they had a long history of social media exchanges, which were sparked by Pimblett’s comments poking fun at Russo-Georgian War. “The truth is that at that moment there was anger because of all the history of Ilia’s family members fighting in the war, so he truly wanted to f*ck him up, but Paddy didn’t want to fight,” Climent told MMA Junkie in Spanish . “I don’t know if it’s because they wanted to take care of him or the UFC wanted to protect him, but (Ilia) tried to get the fight.” Pimblett eventually issued a public apology for making fun of the Georgia’s losing efforts in the Russo-Georgian War, and the two continued with their careers in their respective divisions. Things between Pimblett and Topuria resurfaced a bit after Pimblett reacted to Topuria’s KO win over Max Holloway last month at UFC 308, saying he thinks he’d still beat him if the two were to fight
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Ilia Topuria’s coach Jorge Climent: Potential Paddy Pimblett fight would be ‘abuse’ – MMA Junkie