Paddy Pimblett is the man to dethrone Ilia Topuria from his UFC lightweight championship throne, according to a former UFC welterweight title challenger. This sentiment about Pimblett came from his Liverpool compatriot, Darren Till, who prepares to box Luke Rockhold closer to the month’s end for Misfits Boxing.
This feud between Topuria and Pimblett has been building for a while, with the initial sentiment from many being that we likely wouldn’t see an in-cage payoff for the rivalry with Topuria fighting at featherweight at the time.
Since Topuria transitioned full-time up to 155 pounds and considering Pimblett’s run of success that has seen him mostly recently finish former UFC title challenger Michael Chandler, it seems like this fight is almost an inevitability someday between the Georgian champion and the surging UK contender. Speaking to Compare.bet and touching upon who he thinks can finally put a blemish on the UFC record of Topuria, Till said,
“Paddy has probably got the best chance to beat Ilia, and I know it sounds ridiculous because I don’t think Paddy’s on his level in terms of skillset yet–he will get there.”
But I just think Paddy with his coaches and the way they strategise, and how big he is, and how sort of loose he is–I think Paddy has a great chance of beating Ilia Topuria.
“A lot of people will be against that opinion, but I’ve said this for years about Paddy, people like to give Paddy shit, but he can fight. He’s got a solid team around and he obviously works hard because of the shape he gets in.”
“Stop being a hater” to Paddy Pimblett says Till
As he further expounded upon his Paddy Pimblett analysis in this context, Darren Till stated,
“Whether you love or hate Paddy, and he’s not a close friend by any sense of it, but you have to give Paddy props. I know his opponents are questionable and the loss and stuff, but you can only fight who is in front of you.”
“And people will say ‘he’s getting built’ – of course he’s getting built – like me. Because we speak, we talk the talk, why wouldn’t you build Paddy? Stop being a hater.”
