Ilia Topuria is back home in Spain following his lightweight title win at UFC 317, and the press are already hounding him about who he will fight next.
The obvious, simple answer is Paddy Pimblett, who came into the cage following Topuria’s first round KO win over Charles Oliveira for a face off and scuffle. But the UFC seems hesitant to lock that fight in, so we’re left asking about all potential opponents: Pimblett, Arman Tsarukyan, Islam Makhachev, and Justin Gaethje.
“If I had a choice, Paddy,” Topuria said at a press conference (via KOlmenero). “That’s why I invited him in. It’s one of the biggest fights, and it’s also one of the easiest too. I would fight him, I wouldn’t wait too long. If you go in with so many requirements like having to be in a stadium and so on and so on, maybe the fight will never happen. I offer flexibility. Right now, Paddy is in trouble because I am flexible.”
“Tsarukyan is the easiest of them all,” he said when asked of the No. 1 ranked Georgian lightweight. “He’s much easier than Paddy, I’m telling you. A lot more.”
“Imagine having the opportunity to fight for the world championship and when the day comes, you say your back hurts. I can’t conceive it, I can’t understand it, you know? Without an arm, I would have fought. I don’t care, the day when I had to fight Volk or Max, I’m fighting. But you already know what he did. ‘My back hurts, I can’t fight.’ Clearly, mentally, you are not where you need to be.”
As for Islam Makhachev? Topuria said he was interested, but it didn’t seem likely for now.
“Fighting Makhachev at welterweight is totally viable,” he said. “If it were up to me, next Saturday we’d have a UFC in Spain against Makhachev in the first round and the second round against Paddy. If it were up to me we’d have all those things and much more. But since it’s not just up to me, we have to wait to see what the future holds.”
“If I were offered a fight against him, I’d have no problem waiting. The thing is, I’m in no rush. But the truth is that now I want to sit down again, meditate, visualize what it is that I really want, then sit down with UFC, see what vision they have for me. And together, build something that works for both parties.”
“Islam isn’t even scheduled to fight at the moment,” he added. “He’s moved up a weight class, he has to fight for the welterweight belt. So the real option right now for my next fight is Paddy.”
Pimblett had recently said he wanted to elbow Topuria in the face for 24 minutes before finishing their fight. Topuria had his own plan.
“I never said I want to make him go to the last round to suffer,” he said. “That’s not my style. As soon as I can finish the fight, I’ll finish it. They suffer much more this way.”
