Is Paddy Pimblett vs. Ilia Topuria one of MMA’s only legitimate rivalries?
Over the UFC’s 30+ year run, there have been plenty of iconic feuds. Liddell vs. Ortiz. Cormier vs. Jones. McGregor vs. Khabib. But in more recent years, there’s been a significant lack of true rivalries in mixed martial arts, with one glaring exception.
“Wherever you fall, I think at a minimum, what we can observe is happening here is MMA has a true rivalry and there’s just not a lot of them out there,” Chael Sonnen said while discussing the ongoing spat between Pimblett and Topuria on his YouTube channel.
“Ilia Topuria is now a bigger star than Paddy ‘The Baddy’… do you want to fight me on that, do you argue? Because it would be a good argument. Paddy brings an entire nation with him, Ilia brings an entire nation with him. I am giving the nod to Ilia because he’s the champion, and because his next fight is guaranteed to be the main event, because his last fight was a main event for the world championship. Paddy has not yet headlined a pay-per-view.”
Paddy Pimblett questions Ilia Topuria’s resume
Pimblett and Topuria’s rivalry dates back to a March 2022 incident ahead of UFC London when ‘El Matador’ reportedly went after ‘The Baddy’ for disparaging remarks Pimblett made about Topuria’s home country, Georgia. As Pimblett tells it, Topuria came at him ready to throw hands, prompting the Liverpudlian to launch a bottle of hand sanitizer at the eventual featherweight champion.
Hence why you’ll occasionally hear Pimblett refer to Topuria as “sanitizer boy.”
During a recent interview with TNT Sports, Pimblett reignited their rivalry, claiming that ‘El Matador’ has been “hand-fed” opponents through his UFC career.
“Boy, Paddy went pretty hard. Paddy went pretty hard at Ilia,” Sonnen continued. “He questioned every fight that he did. He said, you know, this is only fair that you would question Ilia’s fights—everybody sit down and they do the same thing to me. But if you go look at Ilia’s record… as impressive as it is, there’s not a guy on that record who a primed Michael Chandler or a primed me wouldn’t beat.”
