The UFC has seen rivalries between many of its major fighters over the years. The Jones vs Cormier, Khabib vs Conor, Khabib vs Tony, and Dillashaw vs Cejudo rivalries still continue to entertain fans. Now it seems like Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett are potentially going to start a new one.
Paddy was the fan favorite in the UFC 282 3-round co-main event against Jared ‘Flash’ Gordon. Unfortunately, the fight didn’t go his way at all. Jared both outstruck him and parried many of his shots. Finally, in one of the worst judging done in MMA history, the victory was handed to ‘The Baddy’
Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria fought in the same card against Bryce ‘Thug Nasty’ Mitchell. This fight was much less competitive as Bryce barely managed to put up a fight. In the second round, Ilia got his finish via an arm triangle choke and kept his undefeated reign going.
The whole issue began when Paddy had an argument with fellow Lightweight Guram Kutateladze. At one point he suddenly called Georgians idiots and blamed their stupidity as the reason Russia bombed them. Ilia sharing Georgian blood didn’t take such comments kindly.
On UFC’s London fight card both fighters had an altercation in the hotel. Topuria ganged up on ‘The Baddy’ and threw a hand-sanitizer bottle at him before getting separated by security. Paddy later tried to walk back on his comments but the bad blood was never gone.
During the UFC 282 press conference, both fighters nearly started a fight again. After their fights, Paddy seems to be losing a lot of fans owing to his controversial win over Gordon whereas Ilia is only getting more popular. The British Fighter spoke to the press following his victory,
“Did he(Ilia) mention me again? He’s a midget, he’s tiny,”
