Paddy Pimblett has mixed feelings towards former two-division UFC champion Ilia Topuria and lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan and how he would deal with potential fights with him when compared to other 155-pound stars.
Pimblett re-inserted his name in the conversation for a shot at the belt after making short work of Benoit Saint Denis in the co-main event of Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor in July, but still needs another victory after coming up short against Justin Gaethje for the interim belt earlier
this year.
Speaking on Green Light podcast recently, Pimblett explained what’s the difference between the verbal warfare depending on who’s the one sett to face him inside the octagon next.
“If I fight Ilia or Arman, I’m gonna absolutely rinse their lives. I’m gonna absolutely terrorize them,” Pimblett said. “But if I fight Max Holloway or Charles Oliveira I wouldn’t, because I respect them and I like them.”
Pimblett added he does have respect for Topuria, but no so much for Tsarukyan because, although he considers him a “good fighter,” “he’s living on daddy’s money, and without dad he wouldn’t be where he is.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I respect Ilia, but we’ve had beef for years,” Pimblett said. “I think he’s a little helmet. I’d love to fight him and give him shit. Arman Tsarukyan, I’ve got no respect for at all. He’s just rich kid, who’s daddy’s a millionaire.”
Tsarukyan is scheduled to face Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event of UFC 331 on Sept. 19, but Topuria has yet to book his return fight after suffering his first career loss in a UFC White House title unification bout with Gaethje in June.
