Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria have had a beef since 2022, when the now UFC lightweight champion took offense at online comments regarding the Georgia-Russia war. They got physical prior to that year’s UFC London show, and it has escalated since.
Pimblett has the chance to win the interim title at UFC 324, when he faces off with Justin Gaethje on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas, and it could lead to a unification bout with Topuria later in 2026.
However, fellow lightweight contender Renato Moicano doesn’t give
Pimblett much of a chance at beating the Georgian-Spanish star.
“It’s impossible. Technique-wise, it’s very hard,” Moicano told MMA Fighting. “Watch Topuria, man. At the same time Paddy Pimblett can take a hit in the chin, and Paddy Pimblett has jiu-jitsu, has boxing, he’s a bad fighter. I don’t know if you can call him bad, but he’s a fighter that — he’s not very technical, he’s not someone you like watching fight, but he’s beating old men. He beat Bobby Green. I’d like to see him beat [Mauricio] Ruffy, Topuria, Charles [Oliveira]. Time will tell.”
Topuria has two more in the octagon, a historic 9-0 career with title victories in two division with knockouts over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira. Pimblett is younger than all but one of the opponents he’s faced since joining the UFC, a 7-0 run that includes victories over Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson and King Green.
Moicano said that Pimblett dethroning Topuria could be compared to an all-time upset in the sport: doable, but unlikely.
“I saw Michael Bisping beating Luke Rockhold,” Moicano said. “I saw Matt Serra beat GSP. We saw Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva. Obviously, maybe the Matt Serra one would look more similar because he’s a short guy, has jiu-jitsu and all that, but upsets can happen in a fight. It can happen, man. And I hope it does.”
Moicano was a huge underdog when he took a shot at then-champion Islam Makhachev on a day’s notice back in January, and explained why he would love a similar upset with a Pimblett championship victory.
“I would be very happy if that happened because I like unexpected things, brother,” Moicano said. “Imagine the best fighter in the world losing to Paddy Pimblett? Absolute cinema. I like when the unexpected happen. It would be really cool to see someone like Paddy Pimblett become world champion.”
