There’s a whole lot of killers at lightweight for Ilia Topuria to fight if he wins the vacant 155 pound belt at UFC 317. And then there’s Paddy Pimblett, who may not be seen as the biggest challenge but is definitely the biggest money fight the UFC could make.

Topuria and Pimblett have been tossing verbal barbs, hand sanitizer bottles, and threats at each other for years. It all started when Pimblett said some classless things about the 2008 Russo-Georgian war to Topuria, who grew up in Georgia. From there it’s spiraled into a feud with two near-brawls, and Paddy insists he’ll add Ilia to his growing list of wins over opponents no one gave him a chance of beating.

“That fight easily could be one of the biggest in UFC history,” Topuria said at UFC 317 media day, before insisting he harbored no true ill will towards Pimblett. “I don’t take anything personal in this game. It’s all professional.”

Topuria even offered a path of least resistance for Pimblett to follow if he wanted to earn a go at the lightweight belt.

“If he wants to assure his title shot, he has to fight with Justin Gaethje,” Topuria said. “Because if he fights with Arman [Tsarukyan], I think that Arman’s gonna beat him. So the easiest path he has right now to get the title shot is Justin. Stylistically.”

That feels like a burn towards Gaethje, but it’s hard to argue: “The Highlight” has known weaknesses on the ground, which is where “The Baddy” excels. Tsarukyan, on the other hand, had strong enough ground chops to beat Charles Oliveira at UFC 300.

Topuria vs. Pimblett would be huge ... now imagine that fight in Spain. Unfortunately right now, it sounds like there’s no way to broadcast a fight of that caliber at prime time in Europe under the UFC’s current TV deal with ESPN. “El Matador” recently revealed any Spain fight would take place at 4 a.m. in the morning, just like UFC 304 in Manchester. But the new media rights deal in 2026 could change that.

“I don’t think [a Spain show] has anything to do with wins or losses,” Topuria said. “Everything is about the deal of the year with the television here. So if they get a new deal, we could have an event in Spain, with a prime time in Spain.”

First things first, though: Topuria will have to prove he can handle fighters at 155 pounds the same way he did at 145. Ten pounds may not seem like a lot, but the size difference is significant especially against grapplers, and many fighters have discovered their punching power doesn’t translate a division up.

So to talk about the future as if Charles Oliveira isn’t a legit threat at UFC 317 who plans on spoiling Topuria’s night? Yeah, it feels a bit premature.