Paddy Pimblett thinks Ilia Topuria is afraid to fight Max Holloway.
Topuria claimed the featherweight world title in February, securing a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. Since then, ‘El Matador’ has yet to defend his title, though his first challenger is all but guaranteed to be the promotion’s reigning BMF titleholder.
Despite some fiery back-and-forths between the two in interviews and on social media, there’s been little news when it comes to actually booking a championship clash between the two 145-pound superstars.
While reacting to this past weekend’s UFC 303 card in Las Vegas and answering some fan inquiries on his YouTube channel, Pimblett offered his take on the inevitable showdown between Topuria and Holloway, suggesting that “hand sanitizer boy” is scared to sign on the dotted line for a fight with one of the UFC’s most dangerous strikers.
“I think I’ve got the same as everyone,” Pimblett said. “Everyone’s picking Max, know what I mean? Hand sanitizer boy’s scared to take the fight. He doesn’t want to take the fight against Max because he knows what will happen. He fought Volkanovski at the perfect time. Coming back off getting knocked out like 10 weeks later. He got lucky there, to be honest.”
Max Holloway was, by all accounts, always going to be the first man up to challenge the Georgian for the featherweight strap. ‘Blessed’ only solidified his spot at the front of the line with an insane buzzer-beating KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 to bag the promotion’s bragging rights belt.
Pimblett and Topuria are certainly no strangers to one another. In March 2022, the two got into a scuffle at a London hotel after ‘The Baddy’ made some disparaging comments about the Russo-Georgian War. During the altercation, Pimblett infamously pelted Topuria with a bottle of hand sanitizer.
Paddy Pimblett gearing up for his next big challenge inside the Octagon
While Topuria and Holloway work out the details of when and where they’ll throw hands, Paddy Pimblett is already preparing for his next challenge. Returning to the Octagon on July 27 when the UFC heads back to Manchester, ‘The Baddy’ will face perhaps his toughest test yet when he meets the always dangerous ‘King’ Bobby Green at UFC 304.
Pimblett is a perfect 5-0 under the UFC banner, though his last two performances against Jared Gordon and Tony Ferguson left a lot to be desired from the Liverpudlian.
Green, on the other hand, has found himself amid a nice little run, winning three of his last four, including a unanimous decision victory over Octagon icon Jim Miller at the UFC’s landmark event in April.
