Footage has emerged of UFC lightweight pair, Paddy Pimblett and the undefeated, Ilia Topuria involved in a physical altercation ahead of UFC London on Saturday, with the duo launching objects and strikes toward each other at the fighter hotel.
Paddy Pimblett, who makes his first outing on home soil since his UFC debut back in September of last year, draws Rodrigo Vargas at the lightweight limit – after debuting with a first round knockout win against Luigi Vendramini back at UFC Vegas 36.
For Topuria, the undefeated featherweight contender makes his lightweight division bow as he clashes with Wolverhampton native, Jai Herbert after a recent failed showdown against Movsar Evloev at UFC 270 in January of this year.
UFC London currently sports at heavyweight headliner between Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall
The pair have engaged in multiple back-and-forths across social media over the last numerous months, with Paddy Pimblett initially receiving flak for comments aimed toward lightweight, Guram Kutateladze, as well as the Georgian population – claiming that he was not surprised Russian forces “terrorized” the country in the past.
In the time since, Pimblett has been the subject of multiple barbs from the likes of Kutataladze, and Topuria. And footage has now emerged of Pimblett and Topuria engaging in a physical altercation at the fighter hotel this Tuesday evening.
Pimblett, who is standing on one side of a counter, is confronted by Topuria and members of his team, before the former Cage Warriors featherweight champion appears to launch a bottle of hand sanitiser in the direction of Topuria – who responds by throwing multiple punches in Pimblett’s direction.
With Topuria corralled by members of his team, the German-born contender repeatedly calls Pimblett a “b*tch”, while Paddy Pimblett says, “you think I’m scared of you?” before calling Topuria a “muppet” and a “maggot”.
At the time of publication, the promotion has yet to officially address the physical altercation between Pimblett and Topuria.
This evening’s developments between the rivals similarly echo another past altercation at UFC Fight Night London back in March 2019, where welterweight contenders, Leon Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal engaged in a physical altercation following the event’s headliner.
Ilia Topuria has been scheduled to make his lightweight debut when he takes on Jai Herbert at UFC London. First Reported by @Campos_Gon on Twitter. Topuria was scheduled in to face undefeated Movsar Evloev earlier this year, however, Evloev had to pull out of their scheduled matchup due to a positive COVID-19 test. Charles Jourdain […]
(@BigMarcel24) 
Illia Topuria is looking to continue his rise up the featherweight rankings after picking up the biggest win of his career last time out. ‘El Matador’ squared off against Ryan Hall on the undercard of Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor III on July 10. The Georgian-Spanish fighter made it look easy as he shrugged off Hall’s […]
Former Brave CF and Cage Warriors feature, Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria remains undefeated and improves his professional mixed martial arts record to 11-0 — stopping the tricky grappler, Ryan Hall with late ground strikes in the opening round of their UFC 264 clash. Improving to 3-0 in the UFC, Georgian native, Topuria debuted with a […]