Santa Claus has come two weeks early, according to Ilia Topuria.
Topuria ran through Bryce Mitchell at UFC 282 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, last night (Dec. 10, 2023) and submitted him in the second round. (Watch the highlights) The win was significant because he will enter the top 10 featherweight rankings next week.
While ‘Thug Nasty’ was his opponent at UFC 282, the feud between himself and Paddy Pimblett started back up at Thursday’s UFC 282 press conference.
Watch some of the back-and-forth trash talk.
These two have officially taken over at the #UFC282 press conference! pic.twitter.com/hQAiAXXVkw
— UFC (@ufc) December 9, 2022
After his big win over Mitchell on Saturday, Topuria was very critical of Pimblett’s controversial win over Jared Gordon and believed he was given a Christmas gift.
“They gave him a Christmas gift right now because he clearly lost the fight. I don’t think anyone will disagree with me in this room,” Topuria told the media during his post-fight interview. “Jared win all three rounds. [Pimblett] didn’t win any round. But anyways, f—k him. Right now, I’m gonna celebrate my win and like I said before, he’s not on my way right now. So god bless everyone who’s not on my way. If he cross on my way, then we’re gonna put his head like Bryce head tonight.”
While Pimblett might have been given a gift, Topuria continues his utter dominance inside the UFC. He remains perfect at 13-0 and is riding a four-fight finish streak, with three knockouts and now a submission. In fact, his lone decision win in his young career came in his UFC debut against Youssef Zalal on short notice.
As for what is next for the Georgian-Spanish fighter, he called for a fight with Brian Ortega, who was last in action at UFC Long Island earlier this year.
For complete UFC 282 results and coverage click here.