“I do want to settle that beef”: Paddy Pimblett gives honest take on his ongoing feud with Ilia Topuria and future bout plans ahead of UFC 314

With an MMA stat of 22-3-0, Paddy Pimblett is gearing up for one of the toughest faceoffs in his career against Michael Chandler (23-9-0) at the UFC 314. The event is scheduled for April 12, 2025, and to be headlined by the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes bout. While Pimblett looks forward to having an interesting match against Chandler, in a recent interview, the English fighter reflected on a few other aspects of his career that involved possible future matchups and even his feud with Ilia Topuria.
With Ilia Topuria moving up the weight class, Paddy Pimblett is confident about defeating El MatadorWith an undefeated streak for the last 16 matches, Ilia Topuria recently announced his move up to lightweight after vacating his featherweight title. This places both Pimblett and Topuria in the same division now. Following their feud at the UFC 282 pre-fight press conference, when Pimblett was asked about his opinion on Topuria’s move up the weight, the former commented,
“I’m sick of talking about Topuria; he’s an absolute helmet. He wouldn’t be where he is in the UFC without jumping on the back of my name. So yes, I do want to settle that beef one day, but we’ll see if he steps up.”

The interviewer further went on to ask him if he would be willing to fight Topuria, to which Pimblett responded, “Styles make fights. No one he’s fought would do what I’d do to him. Everyone tries to have a boxing match with him, and they’ve all failed because of it. I wouldn’t come out and just box with him; I’m not an idiot.”
While Pimblett seems pretty confident about handing Topuria his first defeat, in the same interview, the English fighter went on to reveal his plan after facing Chandler at the UFC 314. Hopeful of defeating Chandler, Pimblett wants to face someone on the lines of Charles Oliveira in Abu Dhabi this year in October and secure a win there as well. With an aim of winning both bouts, Pimblett is hopeful that these expected wins will ultimately lead him to a title bout.
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Keeping a positive attitude towards Chandler, who also has not trash talked before their fixture at UFC 314, Pimblett is keeping the fight very professional. Pimblett has previously faced Jared Gordon, who is from the same team as Chandler and since then the British fighter has worked on himself and improved his fighting skills. On April 12, 2025, the entire MMA community will have