Topuria calls for Pimblett in April

Ilia Topuria calls for Paddy Pimblett in April. He told ABC Diario.

The clip came out Thursday, after five months of silence. Topuria said he will look like no one has seen him, and that he will eat Pimblett like a sausage.

Justin Gaethje stopped Topuria by corner stoppage at 5:00 of the fourth round at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, at the White House, and Topuria lost the lightweight title. The UFC header marks that bout a win. The history says it was a loss.

Topuria said he has been in the worst spot a fighter can be in, that the loss was the worst day of his career, and that he asked what could be worse than dying. He said the question of whether something was off sat with him for five or six months, that you win or you lose and he lost, and that the mirror did not look like him. He has achieved everything, he said, and after the next fight he might retire, though he also told ABC he will never give up, that he had already squeezed everything out, and that the sport called him back because the biggest fight in the UFC now carries his name.

Dana White said earlier in the week that Topuria returns in early 2027 and would not name the opponent, which that story reports. MMA Fighting had Topuria moving up to challenge Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title if he beat Gaethje.

Topuria is 29 and 17-1, No. 1 at lightweight and No. 5 pound-for-pound, and Gaethje is the lightweight champion and No. 4 pound-for-pound. Pimblett is No. 5 at lightweight. Lightweight is 155 pounds (70 kg). Topuria is 67 inches (170 cm), with a 69-inch (175 cm) reach and a 37-inch (94 cm) leg reach, and the UFC lists his hometown as Germany and his gym as Team Topuria. Seven of the wins are knockouts, eight are submissions, and two are decisions, with 10 first-round finishes, four second-round finishes, and one third-round finish. The submissions are a triangle, two rear-naked chokes, two guillotines, an anaconda choke, a triangle armbar, and an arm-triangle choke.

Topuria started jiu-jitsu at four because his father put him in it, turned pro in 2015, worked as a cashier at Stradivarius, won the Arnold Fighter tournament, placed second in Europe in youth jiu-jitsu, and holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He won the Mix Fights WMMAL featherweight title. The Cage Warriors bantamweight title fight ended in less than two minutes, he missed weight, and he did not get the belt.

Topuria knocked Charles Oliveira out at 2:27 of the first round at UFC 317 on June 28, 2025, and won the lightweight title. He knocked Max Holloway out at 1:34 of the third round at UFC 308 and kept the featherweight title. The fight list dates the Holloway bout October 26, 2024, and the history dates it October 30, 2024. The fighter facts say he vacated that belt in April 2025 to fight for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 317. The UFC history says he vacated it in February 2025.

He knocked Alexander Volkanovski out at 3:32 of the second round at UFC 298 on February 17, 2024, and won the featherweight title, won a five-round unanimous decision over Josh Emmett at UFC on ABC on June 24, 2023, and submitted Bryce Mitchell with an arm-triangle choke at 3:10 of the second round at UFC 282 on December 10, 2022. He knocked Jai Herbert out at 1:07 of the second round on March 19, 2022, knocked Ryan Hall out at 4:47 of the first round at UFC 264 on July 10, 2021, knocked Damon Jackson out at 2:38 of the first round on December 5, 2020, and won a three-round unanimous decision over Youssef Zalal on October 10, 2020, in his Octagon debut.

Topuria lands 4.82 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 3.97, at 50 percent accuracy, 502 of 1,002, and he defends 62 percent of strikes. Standing accounts for 387 of them (77 percent), the clinch 34 (7 percent), and the ground 81 (16 percent), and 343 (68 percent) land to the head, 106 (21 percent) to the body, and 53 (11 percent) to the leg. He averages 1.73 takedowns per 15 minutes, five of 21 attempts, defends 95 percent of takedowns, and averages 0.86 submission attempts and 1.15 knockdowns per 15 minutes, with an average fight time of 10 minutes and 26 seconds.

Pimblett is 31 and the UFC header lists him at 24-4, with seven knockouts, 11 submissions, and six decisions, and the fighter facts list 10 submissions. He is 70 inches (178 cm), with a 73-inch (185 cm) reach and a 40-inch (102 cm) leg reach, and Liverpool, England, is his hometown. He trains at NEXT Generation MMA, turned pro in 2012, and made his Octagon debut on September 4, 2021. Twelve finishes came in the first round, and he has won 10 of his last 12. The submissions in the facts are six rear-naked chokes, two flying triangle chokes, and two triangle armbars. He was FCC featherweight champion and Cage Warriors featherweight champion, went 9-0 as an amateur, won the AFC bantamweight title and defended it three times, and holds a second-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He started training at 15 and trained full time from 16, and he has twin daughters.

The fight list gives a first-round submission of Benoît Saint Denis at 0:52 on July 11, 2026, at UFC 329. The written history does not list that bout. Pimblett lost a five-round unanimous decision to Gaethje on January 24, 2026, at UFC 324, in a fight for the interim lightweight title, stopped Michael Chandler with strikes at 3:07 of the third round at UFC 314 on April 12, 2025, and submitted King Green with a triangle choke at 3:22 of the first round at UFC 304 on July 27, 2024. He won a unanimous decision over Tony Ferguson at UFC 296 on December 16, 2023, won a unanimous decision over Jared Gordon at UFC 282 on December 10, 2022, submitted Jordan Leavitt with a rear-naked choke at 2:46 of the second round on July 23, 2022, submitted Kazula Vargas with a rear-naked choke at 3:50 of the first round on March 19, 2022, and knocked out Luigi Vendramini at 4:25 of the first round on September 4, 2021. He also holds a 2016 win over Julian Erosa.

Pimblett lands 5.48 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 3.86, at 53 percent accuracy, 484 of 918, and he defends 43 percent of strikes. Standing accounts for 367 of them (76 percent), the clinch 37 (8 percent), and the ground 80 (17 percent), and 298 (62 percent) land to the head, 87 (18 percent) to the body, and 99 (20 percent) to the leg. He averages 0.68 takedowns per 15 minutes off 19 attempts, defends 46 percent of takedowns, and averages 1.36 submission attempts and 0.34 knockdowns per 15 minutes, with an average fight time of 9 minutes and 49 seconds.