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Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria have traded barbs ever since the pair were involved in a scuffle at the fighter hotel ahead of UFC Fight Night 204. This continued at UFC 282, where both fighters appeared on the main card.
Mixed martial arts analyst John McCarthy has now shared his thoughts on a potential matchup between Pimblett and Topuria.
Speaking on his podcast, WEIGHING IN, the former UFC referee offered a warning to Pimblett, stating:
"I like Jared Gordon as a fighter. He's a good guy, personally like him, but he's not at the top of the food chain. There's a lot of guys above him - man they're licking their chops waiting for you."
He continued:
"There's a guy at 145 that you got into it with at the media day, that man will f**king murk you. He will make you look like you are right now, a fairly average fighter that has fans. They put you in a co-main. You're not ready for the co-main son, not yet."
Pimblett was awarded a controversial unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon at UFC 282, which received plenty of backlash from fans and fighters alike. While the unranked lightweight entered the week being hyped as a budding star within the promotion, he failed to live up to that as he put forth a lackluster performance in his pay-per-view debut.
Watch John McCarthy share his thoughts on Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria below (starting at the 18:00 mark):
Ilia Topuria claims he will face Paddy Pimblett 'one day'
Following their altercation at UFC Fight Night 204, there has been plenty of back-and-forth between Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria. The No.14-ranked featherweight recently shared that he was looking forward to facing the unranked lightweight.
Speaking to Laura Sanko, Topuria stated:
"It happened in London when I fought the last time with Paddy and it happened this time. I didn't have any distractions with that. The thing was, I was in the press conference, and that mushroom was talking and I don't want to listen to him... I know that I'm gonna face that motherf***er one day and I'm gonna smash his face."
Topuria, who is set to enter the top 10 of the featherweight rankings after defeating Bryce Mitchell at UFC 282, specified that he would like to face Pimblett at the UFC's first event in Spain. While the two fighters have traded insults in the past, the latter is yet to respond to the call out.
Watch Ilia Topuria discuss facing Paddy Pimblett below:
