The Superstar Contender

Paddy “the Baddy” Pimblet is one of the biggest rising stars in the MMA world. The scouser from England made waves in his MMA career in 2016 when he competed in Cage Warriors, where he won the featherweight title. His popularity rose more and more as he continued to dominate in the octagon. Selling out venues solely based on the fact that he was the one fighting. His wild and charismatic personality mixed with his dominant grappling was the recipe for a star in the making. He jumped into a different realm of stardom when he came to the UFC in 2021. In his first fight, he would knock out Luigi Vendramini in the first round and cement himself as the next big thing.

He quickly became one of the most popular fighters in MMA and continues to dominate fight after fight. He is 7-0 in the UFC, and he is coming off his best performance in a TKO victory against Michael Chandler. Chandler was his toughest opponent yet, a former Bellator champion, and someone who had contended with some of the best lightweight fighters of all time. Paddy made Chandler look like an amateur and dominated him with grappling and crisp striking. Chandler was ranked #7 at the time in the lightweight division, and with Paddy being undefeated in the UFC and the performance he put on, he was bound to sneak into the top 7 rankings. Pimblet is now ranked #6 and is seemingly next to take on the current champion and pound-for-pound #1 in the world, Ilia Topuria.

The Potential Greatest of All Time

Ilia Topuria is the best fighter on earth at the moment and is on one of the best runs the sport has ever seen. He very quickly became one of the greatest fighters ever to live, and for good reason. The undefeated, former featherweight and current lightweight champion looks unbeatable. He has knocked out some of the all-time greats back-to-back and made it look easy. From the likes of Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira, to name a few. He has absolutely destroyed some of the best fighters ever to touch the UFC and isn’t too far away from potential GOAT status. In the lightweight division, about  5 different fighters are contending for the belt. The problem is, all of them have either been beaten by Ilia or already have fights. The arrival of Topuria in the lightweight division has shaken things up and has the matchmakers questioning what the future will look like. Former champion Islam Makhachev moved to welterweight to fight for the belt. This leaves Topuria in need of a fight in the meantime while waiting for Makhachev to come back down. And one name sticks out the most… Paddy Pimblet.

History

The reason that a Paddy vs Topuria is so compelling is the tension and history between the two. Paddy is no stranger to trash talk and he enjoys to poke the bear. This started in 2021 after Pimblet made a post on social media referencing Topuria’s Georgian heritage. Ilia took this as a personal attack on his country and culture which ignited a fued between them. Since then, they continue to to go at it online and have even had some heated confrontations in person. This has created a great story line that will go a long way in selling the fight. It would be a pay-per-view monster and will be one of the biggest in recent UFC history.

Does Paddy deserve the opportunity for the belt? His last win was against Michael Chandler who was on a two-fight losing streak and ranked #7 in the division. There are still elite fighters he has to prove himself against before facing the best fighter on the planet. Fighters like Justin Geathje, Arman Tsarukyan, or Max Holloway are great matchups that Paddy should fight to showcase his skills. Its hard to imagine that a victory against Chandler leads to a title shot, especially against someone as great as Ilia Topuria. The history between the two is the driving force behind this matchup. Paddy is one of the biggest stars in the sport and possess a skillset that many think could defeat Topuria. The rivalry mixed with the opposite styles of fighting will make for a mega fight that could go down in history. The pound for pound best vs the up and coming superstar is supposedly happening for UFC 324 and will be the first event on the new UFC platform Paramount Plus.