UFC star Paddy Pimblett has explained why he’s so eager to take on Ilia Topuria – outside of just wanting to claim the UFC lightweight championship.

For the longest time now, Paddy Pimblett has been on a rocket ship to the stars when it comes to his actual star power in mixed martial arts. The Baddy’ is one of the most popular fighters out there right now and after his win over Michael Chandler, many believed that he was only one win away from a title shot.

Now, however, he may not even have to wait that long. That’s because Ilia Topuria is the new lightweight king, and it’s well known that he has a real problem with Paddy Pimblett – and it appears as if the feeling is mutual.

In a recent interview, Paddy Pimblett was more than happy to explain why he wants to fight ‘El Matador’ so badly.

Paddy Pimblett explains why Ilia Topuria fight is so big

“Ilia. Definitely. We have a genuine dislike for each other. So, I’d love to get in the cage and like settle that for once.”

Paddy Pimblett is well aware of how much interest there is in this fight. He also knows that Ilia Topuria is probably the biggest active star in the sport right now, and that this is a collision course that seems destined to end in them actually fighting one another. With that being said, there are definitely some out there who want to see Paddy beat someone like Justin Gaethje before feeling like he’s really earned a crack at Topuria.

From the UFC’s perspective, there’s no bigger fight to make – perhaps outside of Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones and Topuria vs Islam Makhachev. With neither of them looking likely, though, this is just as good if not better in terms of mainstream appeal.