Paddy Pimblett recounts origin of Ilia Topuria beef: 'It's all a big misunderstanding'

USA Today

11 hours ago

Paddy Pimblett gives his side of origin of his heated rivalry with Ilia Topuria.
One of the biggest and most heated rivalries in MMA today stemmed from a simple misunderstanding – at least, that's how one half of the feud sees it.
Paddy Pimblett has been feuding with now UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria for several years. It all originated from a tweet that Pimblett meant no malice beyond just ordinary trash talk with a Georgian fighter, Guram Kutateladze, who's a friend and fellow countryman of Topuria's.
"The other Georgian fighter, Guram, tweeted at me saying something, and I tweeted back something like, 'Oh, shut up you fake Russian,'" Pimblett said on his podcast recalling the birth of his beef with Topuria. "They all took offense of it, and I'm there sitting at the house, 'Why did they all took offense to it?' Obviously, when you say something, and you offend someone you're going to say something else along the lines. They started tweeting me, so I said something like, 'No wonder why the Russians terrorized you,' and then I went to bed and woke up the next morning and I had the craziest amount of hate mail."
Back in 2021, Pimblett wrote to Kutateladze in a tweet where Topuria was tagged in:
"Lad how stupid are these Georgians man (laughing emojis) no wonder the Russians terrorise their lives (laughing emojis)."
Pimblett assures there was no political connotation to his comments. However, many Georgian fighters, including Topuria, took offense to it given the history of the Russo-Georgian War of 2008.
"They all said I was talking about the war, and I was like, 'What war?' I only had found out the next day that Russia had been at war with Georgia," Pimblett said. "I didn't know that at the time. My Twitter blew up, 'I'm like, what's going on here? What's happening?' People are saying that I'm saying stuff about war. It had nothing to do with war. I just said a word. Back in Liverpool, if you say something like 'terrorize' it is like you're being bullied. That's just something we say. He still says it to this day, and he said it on (Joe) Rogan (Podcast), that I was happy that Russia dropped bombs on Georgian kids. I never said that. I don't know how he's made that up in his own mind, but that's what he says."
After the social media backlash, Pimblett did apologize for his comments online. However, that didn't settle things with Topuria. The two would run into each other the following year at the host hotel for UFC Fight Night 204 in London, as the two competed in respective bouts on the card. As expected, their interaction was far from friendly.
"I've seen him a couple of months later," Pimblett recalled. "I went to the lads where the UFC gives you food and stuff on fight week. I'm going to warm these eggs up, boys, I'm just going to go down and warm them up. One of my coaches went to me, 'Wait there, Pad, I'll come with ya.' Lad, I'm only going to warm these up. I got on the lift, went down like two flights or something, put the eggs in there, and I'm just waiting for the eggs, and then he comes walking out of the door with like eight of his buddies and his boys.
"To be honest, it's a good thing that Ellis didn't come down because it would've been a brawl. ... Ellis my coach is ready no matter what. He would've started swinging. Luckily enough, I was still behind the thing so when he came over, I just went, 'What's happening lad?' And then he halfway went like that, and I don't know if he actually swung at me, but he went to, and I just moved out of the way and threw the (sanitizer) bottle on his head and then pushed the table at him. It was quite funny became there were about nine of them, and I'm thinking, 'Cook off here, I'm going to get jumped.'"
Since their hotel altercation, Topuria went on to win and defend the UFC featherweight bout, and then win the vacant UFC lightweight title last month. A historic run that had him knock out Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira. Meanwhile, Pimblett continued to build his star power and become a top contender at 155 pounds.
"He's blown up a lot since then," Pimblett said. "But before he got into that with me, no one knew who he was, and he's blew a lot since then. He's one of them lads who still says, 'Oh, he's sh*t, he's sh*t,' when he talks about me. As much as I hate him, I know he's good. He's a good fighter, but I still think I beat him. I think it could end up happening."
It's not official, but a title fight between Topuria and Pimblett could be happening next. There are other contenders campaigning for the shot besides Pimblett, but the Englishman does have a case, being undefeated in the UFC, being highly ranked, and having a high ranking in the division.
Should the fight happen, Pimblett expects the rivalry with Topuria to live on.
"No, (the beef won't be settled) because I will beat him, and then he won't want to smash the beef," Pimblett said.
However, should Topuria want to settle things, which Pimblett doesn't think it will happen, he's more than willing to shake his hand, as for him, this feud has never been personal, and he never meant to get political.
"I'll shake his hand, yeah," Pimblett said. "For me, it's all a big misunderstanding. It's built a massive storyline for the fight when it comes down to it, but it just annoys me that he still says that I said something I never. He said that on the Rogan podcast bout three months ago. He's making me look bad. Lad, I never said that, and I would never say something so disgusting."