{"id":39122,"date":"2026-07-03T03:10:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Ilia-Topurias-lightweight-future-questioned-by-Paddy-Pimblett-201745"},"modified":"2026-07-03T03:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:10:48","slug":"ilia-topurias-lightweight-future-questioned-by-paddy-pimblett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ilia-topurias-lightweight-future-questioned-by-paddy-pimblett\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria\u2019s lightweight future questioned by Paddy Pimblett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Paddy
\nPimblett<\/a> believes Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> is just too small a lightweight.<\/p>\n

Topuria (17-1) won and defended the featherweight title once before
\nmoving up to lightweight. Topuria was a massive favorite when he
\nput his lightweight title on the line against Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> (28-5) at
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, Gaethje battered Topuria and bloodied him up, forcing his
\ncorner to throw the towel after four rounds.<\/p>\n

The Ilia Topuria lightweight debate<\/h2>\n

Pimblett (23-4) had originally been eyeing a title shot against
\nTopuria. However, Gaethje defeated \u201cThe Baddy\u201d to win the interim
\ntitle earlier this month. Pimblett believes he would send Topuria
\nback to featherweight if they were to fight now. The Liverpudlian
\nnotes that there are weight classes for a reason. Pimblett also
\nbelieves it was Gaethje\u2019s destiny to beat him and win the title
\nagainst Topuria as an American at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say we have weight classes for a reason,\u201d Pimblett told
\nSpinnin Backfist. \u201cIlia Topuria is a fat featherweight. He\u2019s not a
\nlightweight. And if I ever fight him, people will realize that. If
\nhe fights me, he will move back down to 145 [pounds]. Because he
\nwill realize how small he is for [lightweight]… I\u2019ve got no
\nanimosity towards Justin Gaethje. He beat me; better man won on the
\nnight. I think it was fate for him to beat me, so that he could
\nbeat Ilia on the White House lawn. Be the American in the main
\nevent to win a world title. It was destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pimblett will look to return to the win column when he faces
\nBenoit St.
\nDenis<\/a> (17-3) at UFC 329<\/a>
\non July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. St. Denis is currently
\non a four-fight finishing streak.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Paddy The Baddy tells us if he fought
\nIlia
\nTopuria<\/a> he would “send him back down to 145”<\/p>\n

“I always say we have weight classes for a reason….He’s a fat
\nfeatherweight, lad.”<\/p>\n

He also notes that Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> beating him in January “was destiny” to have an
\nAmerican win the belt\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/KoYVeVJCQh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist)
\nJuly 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paddy Pimblett believes Ilia Topuria is just too small a lightweight. Topuria (17-1) won and defended the featherweight title once before moving up to lightweight. Topuria was a massive favorite when he put his lightweight title on the line against Justin Gaethje (28-5) at UFC Freedom 250 last month. Advertisement However, Gaethje battered Topuria and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}