New UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is still awaiting word on his first title defense but there are a lot of signs pointing towards an eventual showdown with Paddy Pimblett.
It doesn’t hurt that Topuria and Pimblett have engaged in a very public war of words not to mention a physical altercation that broke out between them at a UFC event in London back in 2022. Pimblett beating Michael Chandler in his most recent fight gave him a marquee name on his resume, and he got into an intense faceoff
with Topuria just after he won the title in June.
For his part, Chandler gives Pimblett credit for getting the job done when they met back in April, but he doesn’t love his chances to actually dethrone Topuria to become UFC champion.
“I think Paddy would have a good chance to keep it past a round or two because he’s not going to engage, I think as much as [Charles] Oliveira did,” Chandler explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “We all found out how Oliveira would do if that right hand, left hook lands. But ultimately, it’s not as big of a mismatch as most people think but it’s definitely a mismatch.
“That’s just because we’re talking Ilia Topuria. Now if we were talking a year ago and we were talking about the lightweight division and Paddy after our fight in April and him maybe fighting next, I think he’s got more of a chance, but I think Ilia Topuria is easily the most talented guy, not just in our division but in the entire sport. That’s my personal opinion.”
Chandler often praises Topuria for his continued development, which led him to become UFC featherweight champion and then knocking out Charles Oliveira inside the first round to claim the lightweight title back in June.
Add to that, Chandler isn’t picking against Pimblett because it’s sour grapes from their fight but rather he’s just that much of a believer in what Topuria brings to the table as champion.
“Paddy is better than most will give him credit for,” Chandler said. “Obviously, I shared the octagon with him. His octagon presence was on point. He knew where he needed to be. He was completely OK with getting taken down in that first round. He kept great distance. Kept me off with the kicks.
“Topuria being a little bit shorter than me but great punching power, punches in bunches, and not just the punches when he throws them and they land but knowing when to throw his combinations. Knowing when to not throw his combinations. When to just stalk. He does a really good job of stalking guys because most guys are going to be running away from that right hand, left hook, the uppercut, because obviously as we saw with Charles Oliveira, as we saw with a lot of Topuria’s fights, the man will put out anybody he’s going to fight.”
Early odds have Pimblett as a decided underdog should the fight actually happen but he’s continued to insist that he’s more than prepared to not only face Topuria but beat him for the title if the UFC grants him the opportunity.
Because it’s a fight and anything can happen, Chandler recognizes that Pimblett could potentially pull off the upset but at least on paper, he doesn’t see a clear path to victory for him over somebody as skilled and as dangerous as Topuria.
“We’ll see if that fight gets made,” Chandler said. “But I do think Paddy would be not in a great scenario for him to go out there and fight fire with fire with probably the best striker on the planet.”
So who actually has the best chance to beat Topuria out of the current crop of lightweight contenders?
Chandler definitely believes that honor falls to Arman Tsarukyan, but he just doesn’t see him actually getting the shot any time soon, especially after blowing his chance at becoming champion when he suffered an injury just a day before a scheduled fight against Islam Makhachev that forced a late change to the UFC 311 main event.
“Obviously those three guys, [Justin] Gaethje, Paddy and Arman [Tsarukyan] are kind of the 1a and 1b of everyone’s hopes or thoughts who’s going to fight him next,” Chandler said. “Between those guys because I can’t really think right now of somebody who I think has the resume and strength of schedule so far to say that they’d be able to go out there and have a decent showing against Ilia. Of the three, I tend to lean towards Arman because Arman’s got the best grappling prowess, probably the strongest guy of those three. Paddy’s probably the biggest guy but Paddy’s got kind of that loosey-goosey jiu-jitsu, if you will, compared to Arman’s a little more hammering and Gaethje obviously has grappling — we were just talking the other day, he was an All-American in Division I wrestling — he’s got grappling, he’s got wrestling, he’s just choosing not to use it. So that would be largely a standup battle when it comes to those two.
“I think Arman of those three but I don’t think Arman is getting the next title shot. I think the UFC realizes, one, you pulled out of the [title fight with Islam Makhachev] the day before, you need to fight another and two, you’re just not that interesting so we’ll see.”
