Paddy Pimblett explains why he believes Ilia Topuria was "hand-fed" opponents, predicts potential clash against 'El Matador' 

Paddy Pimblett recently claimed that Ilia Topuria has been carefully matched with favorable opponents throughout his UFC career. Last week, UFC CEO Dana White announced that Topuria will face former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the headline bout of UFC 317, set to take place on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pimblett, who shares a tense history with 'El Matador', has also been vocal in questioning his immediate title shot after moving up from the UFC featherweight division. He now suggests that Topuria’s success in the octagon may be partly due to strategic opponent selection.

During a recent interview with TNT Sports, 'The Baddy' highlighted several of Topuria’s opponents in the 145-pound division and compared them to his own, arguing that he has faced significantly tougher competition in the UFC:

"I do still think he's being hand-fed opponents — all his opponents on the bounce, you know what I mean... Most of his fights coming up, like, you can compare them to my fights because people sh*t on my opponents. But every fight he got before the title — Michael Chandler beats every single one of them. I can probably beat every single one of them."

Pimblett has asserted that a potential showdown with 'El Matador' could be one of the UFC’s biggest attractions in recent years. The 30-year-old Englishman further confidently predicted that he would dominate Topuria if they ever shared the octagon:

"I'll absolutely kick him everywhere."

Check out Paddy Pimblett's comments below (11:46):

The rivalry between Pimblett and Topuria dates back to a fiery confrontation in March 2022, when both fighters competed on the same UFC London card. Tensions resurfaced at the UFC 282 pre-fight press conference, nearly escalating into a physical altercation that required security to intervene.

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When Paddy Pimblett suggested Ilia Topuria skipped real threats at featherweight

During a March interview with SHAK MMA, Paddy Pimblett suggested that Ilia Topuria relinquished the UFC featherweight title and moved up to the lightweight division to avoid a potential rematch with Alexander Volkanovski, as well as to evade other top contenders in the weight class:

"I think he ran from 145, to be honest, because he knew Volkanovski not coming off a knockout loss 12 weeks earlier would give him a much tougher fight than his first fight with him. And then he also had [Movsar] Evloev and [Diego] Lopes to fight."

Check out Paddy Pimblett's comments below (6:48):