Streaking Scouser Paddy Pimblett may be a fan of Charles Oliveira, but he certainly wasn’t impressed with the former champ’s performance on Saturday.
While speaking with Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick on the Verse Us podcast, The Baddy went so far as to say Oliveira looked like an amateur. The way he sees things, given how experienced Oliveira is, the former champ should have known better than to stand and trade with Ilia Topuria.
“I really like Charles but what the f*** was that game plan, lad? Just stand in front of him and get punched in the face. … I’d love to know what their game plan was. Because that was half embarrassing.
“What are you doing just standing in the middle and swinging punches with him when he’s a top class boxer and he’s got power. It blew my mind how stupid he could be after that was his 47th pro fight, and he was going in there like an amateur.”
In the wake of his win, Topuria pointed out in a video for the UFC’s YouTube channel that Oliveira isn’t capable of fighting while moving backwards. Because of that, he and his team were able to anticipate the two exchanging in the middle of the Octagon, and game plan accordingly.
Paddy Pimblett Believes Ilia Topuria is Underestimating Him
Although it doesn’t sound like the UFC is interested in giving Paddy Pimblett the next crack at the title, given that Dana White wasn’t a fan of The Baddy entering the Octagon for a staredown with Ilia Topuria, The Baddy is all-in on the bout.
As he explained on the ESPN UFC 317 post-fight show, the UFC doesn’t have to sell a fight between the two. Given their longstanding feud and previous altercation in 2022, Pimblett thinks the fight sells itself.
According to the streaking Scouser, if the two do wind up agreeing to fight, he thinks the lightweight champ will slack off in training.
As he explained during Tuesday’s appearance on Verse Us:
“He’s a very good all-around fighter. That’s like that’s one thing, what I always say. I respect him as a fighter, and he doesn’t respect me. So I genuinely think if he fought me, he wouldn’t train as hard. He just thinks he’d beat me.”
Ilia Topuria Dismissive of Justin Gaethje Fight, Eager to Throw Down With Pimblett
Right now, there’s no clear-cut No. 1 contender at 155 pounds despite Arman Tsarukyan weighing in as the backup fighter for UFC 317, and Ali Abdelaziz saying that Justin Gaethje will retire if he doesn’t get a crack at the title.
In the case of Tsarukyan, Dana White said weighing in as the backup fighter for UFC 317 was merely a step in the right direction following his UFC 311 withdrawal. In the case of Gaethje, White called the ultimatum issued by The Highlight’s team “wacky”.
If it were up to the newly minted champion, he would defend the title against Paddy Pimblett for his first title defense.
On the latest installment of the UFC’s About Last Fight show, El Matador name-dropped Pimblett when asked who he would like to fight next:
“It would be Paddy, probably. Because that’s the guy that I really would enjoy to punch him in the face, really would enjoy that fight, and I know that I can do with him whatever I wanna do.”
You can see his comments following the question at 11:26 in the video below.
As we’ve seen in the past, the UFC is willing to look past rankings when booking fights.
With that in mind, given the longstanding feud between Topuria and Pimblett, it will be interesting to see if the No. 8 ranked contender winds up fighting for the belt.
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