The UFC lightweight division has a vacant title and aging contenders.
Former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (16-0) and former lightweight titleholder Charles Oliveira (35-10, 1 NC) will fight for the vacant title at UFC 317 on June 28 during the UFC’s annual International Fight Week.
Top pound-for-pound fighter Islam Makhachev vacated the 155-pound championship to move up to the welterweight division to challenge for a second UFC divisional title.
Rising lightweight star Paddy Pimblett would personally rather see Oliveira win but knows if Topuria becomes champion that it could be beneficial to his career. After all, the two have history.
“It’s probably better for me if Ilia wins the belt because he’ll probably call me out,” Pimblett told TNT Sports. “I don’t know who I want to win. I’m a fan of Charles, so I think I want Charles to win but it’s probably better for my career if Ilia wins because I’d more than likely be his first title defense.”
Pimblett believes a fight against Topuria is the second biggest matchup the organization can make bridesmaid to a heavyweight unification bout between champion Jon Jones and interim titleholder Tom Aspinall.
“Apart from Jon Jones and Aspinall, I think that’s the biggest fight the UFC can make, me versus Ilia,” Pimblett said. “There’s loads of history in it. There’s bad blood. People love all that sh*t.”
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The ‘bad blood’ Pimblett referenced stemmed from online comments that led to a physical altercation at the fighter hotel in London during UFC Fight Night 204 fight week in March 2022. The two nearly came to blows at the UFC 282 Press Conference later that year.
“It’s been four years in the making. He has done a lot in the sport since then,” Pimblett said before trashing Topuria’s resume. “Every fight he got before the title Michael Chandler beats every single one of them. Bobby Green beats every single one of them.
“I don’t think he beats Volk (Alexander Volkanovski) if Volk hadn’t been knocked out three months previous. I think that’s one of the reasons he did move to lightweight because he didn’t want to have that rematch with Volk.”
Pimblett is ranked No. 8 in the division and is riding a nine-fight winning streak. He’s coming off a dominating win over former title challenger Michael Chandler.
