LONDON – Paddy Pimblett doesn’t seem to have interest in fighting Ilia Topuria.
The UFC standout brushed off Topuria’s callout at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 204 in London. Topuria called out Pimblett (18-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and expressed his interest in fighting him all throughout fight week following their Tuesday altercation, and then again after his knockout win over Jai Herbert.
Topuria called Pimblett a “blond b*tch” in his in-cage post-fight interview with Michael Bisping and said he wanted to meet Pimblett in the octagon.
Like Topuria, Pimblett was successful and picked up a stoppage win on the main card of the event. Pimblett submitted Kazula Vargas in the first round – and he didn’t seem keen on accepting Topuria’s challenge.
“Everyone wants to fight me,” Pimblett told reporters at the post-fight news conference. “Everyone wants to hang on my coattails. No one knew who Ilia Topuria – or ‘hand sanitizer boy’ – was until he tried to start an altercation with me. No one knew who he was. I’m the draw. Everyone wants to fight me.”
Despite not having much love for Topuria, Pimblett did give him credit for his knockout win over Herbert. A massive right hand from Topuria put Herbert out cold to the canvas and was one of nine $50,000 bonus winners in London.
“I’ll give him his due – it was a good knockout,” Pimblett said. “It was a very good knockout, especially after taking that head kick in the face. But if I hit him with that head kick like that, I’d finish him. As I said, he’s just ‘hand-sanitizer boy’ to me. A lion doesn’t concern themselves with the opinion of sheep.”
