We got a good old fashioned street fight today.
When UFC fighters Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria crossed paths in the UFC's host hotel in London, things did not go well. Words were exchanged, punches were thrown, and even bottles were thrown in something reminiscent to the Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz press conference.
Ariel Helwani posted the footage of the event which was posted on Topuria's Instagram.
https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/1503819315979726854
The crazy part is Pimblett and Topuria aren't even fighting each other on Saturday! In the UFC's first return to Europe since the Covid-19 pandemic started, Topuria is facing Jai Herbert and Pimblett is facing Kazula Vargas.
According to Helwani, the two had been going back and forth on social media for a long time.
Pimblett made his UFC debut back in September after the loud spoken Liverpool native came to the UFC from Cage Warriors, the biggest MMA promotion in the UK/Ireland. Pimblett has already been compared to McGregor for his trash talking personality and Cage Warriors success. Now you can add bottle throwing to the list of comparisons.
Topuria is currently the #15 ranked lightweight and Pimblett is currently unranked. This matchup is one that makes almost too much sense after their respective fights on Saturday. Assuming Topuria stays among the bottom of the rankings, that would be the perfect next move for Pimblett as one of the UFC's next big stars to get him into the rankings at lightweight.
Now we'll have to see if they cross paths or call each other out on Saturday...
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