There is a time for meritocracy in combat sports, but with regard to the lightweight title photo of the UFC, that time is not now.
Okay, this can be a misleading start. These pages endorse the idea that it is almost always Time for meritocracy, and too often in the past of the UFC, the promotion has chosen to work against that noble leading principle. Too often fighters with long winning runs are overlooked for title shots in favor of easier promisible personalities.
That brings us to the question that is now confronted with the UFC: does the Paddy Pimblett book as the first challenger of Ilia Topuria for the lightweight throne, or someone else?
On UFC 317 on Saturday (28 June), the prophetic prediction of Topuria of a first round knockout by Charles Oliveira crystallized. This made “El Matador” a two -road champion and gathered the lightweight belt after reigning as a featherweight champion from February 2024 to February 2025.
The decision of Topuria to leave the belt of 145 pounds was fed by his motivation to chase further distinctions on 155 pounds, where he hoped that Islam Makhachev would wait. But the Russian itself had machinations, which quickly give up the title to Eye 170LB Glory. As such, Topuria was accompanied by former champion Oliveira, the most dangerous Finisher in the UFC history. Topuria erased him.
It could have been Arman Tsarukyan in the cage with Topuria, in a collision of two New-Age mixed martial artists. Tsarukyan, 28, such as Topuria, narrowly postponed Oliveira last year to earn a title shot, but withdrew from his planned fight with Makhachev in January on a day of a day – with reference to a back injury. With Oliveira who bounced back in the meantime, the Brazilian got the nod over Tsarukyan on UFC 317.
But with Tsarukyan who wants to prove the UFC that it can be trusted, weighed the Armenian-Russian as the backup hunter for UFC 317. Topuria covered Tsarukyan for that Tsarukyan and claimed that the natural lightweight had no chance against him and only a slender chance. Tsarukyan was not friendly to that suggestion. And so the foundation was laid for a potential confrontation between Topuria and Tsarukyan, an honest intriguing match-up.
However, their little fight cannot come close to the history between Topuria and “Paddy the Baddy”.
In anticipation of UFC London in 2022, the Spanish-Georgian de Liverpudlian confronted in the Fighter Hotel, making the apparently anti-georgic tweets from Pimblett in the context of “El Matador” in the apparently anti-georgic tweets. The nickname “Hand Sanitor Boy” by Pimblett did not stay on Topuria, who spoke cooler about what he would do with Pimblett if the couple would share a cage.
And three years later they finally shared a cage. Commentator Joe Rogan beckoned Pimblett in the Octagon in Las Vegas, after Topuria had erased Oliveira and resolved the 30-year-old. Topuria, a passionate but company-conscious man, opposed the urge to drop his UFC titles and attack Pimblett, although he pushed the scouser.
UFC president Dana White actually complained about the decision to leave Pimblett in the T-Mobile Arena Cage, with reference to safety problems-the family of Topuria was in the ring of the prospect that fans’ thinking could influence.
Yet Blank does not have to feel so hurt. Rogan may have just done the UFC and his president a favor by giving seeds that were already there.
No, Pimblett has not a strictly deserved title shot, but he is close by. When the early UFC fights of the Baddy had tagged him a bit too often, and when he got a happy decision in 2022, fans believed that it was inevitable that one of his most viral claims would come back to bite him: “I am a scouser, we are not beaten.” But his last two fights, a Quickfire entry from Bobby Green and domination from Chandler, showed that his ceiling was higher than many.
They also took him to the lightweight top 10, where it was believed that he might still need a victory to challenge for gold. A match-up with Justin Gaethje was logical, but the American has threatened to retire if he then does not get a title shot. This weekend Jibed that probably that Gaethje should have to retire. Gaethje has already failed in two title fights and does not justify his recent record.
Yes, that is a meritocratic point. And YesThis writer is about to contradict himself, but: the UFC now has to book Topuria vs Pimblett.
Pimblett does not earn a title shot as Tsarukyan, but the hype of a Baddy vs Matador-Match-up is not only surpassed that of a fight involving Tsarukyan; It is currently the hype of another UFC fight exceeded topuria vs Makhachev, which would place the pound-for-pound no. 2 against the No. 1.
There is an argument that Topuria vs Pimblett would be the biggest UFC fight since Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. In fact, there would be shades of that rivalry, with Topuria Nurmagomedov IS-EDUS-STATUS STATE, WASTE STATION STATE. Topuria would be the ‘last boss’ for Pimblett in the way Khabib was for McGregor. There is also the element of Pimblett that Topuria worsens with statements about the heritage of the latter, although McGregor went one step further in attacking the religion of Nurmagomedov.
You would be difficult to find a fan who believes that Pimblett would beat Topuria; Pimblett is an expert grappler, yes, but his rival is also good at home in that department, and he is stripes for the Liverpudlian when it comes to striking. And yet … Anticipation on the fight would be palpable.
The UFC has lost a lot of allure this year and is struggling with a clear lack of stars and an abundance of weak fighting cards. In Topuria vs Pimblett they received a gift. And the window to make this match-up can be small; Combine Pimblett with a top candidate and his streak can collapse, while Topuria could still do the unthinkable and go up again To challenge Makhachev at Welterweight, if the Russian wins gold there.
It can now be or never for the UFC, Topuria and Pimblett. The UFC must persuade the tractor and pay off a generation of UFC -Vete.
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