Paddy Pimblett has said he still wants to take on Ilia Topuria for the undisputed UFC lightweight title should he beat Justin Gaethje next month.
Pimblett (23-3) will headline UFC 324 on Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+) alongside Gaethje (26-5) for the interim title.
Topuria is the full champion but has taken time away from the sport for personal reasons. Earlier this month, he said in a social media post that “false allegations of domestic abuse” are the reason for his UFC absence.
While Pimblett would be happy to accept being upgraded to undisputed champion should the UFC to make that move, the 30-year-old said he still has eyes on a fight against long-time rival Topuria.
“Yeah, I want to beat Ilia,” Pimblett told ESPN.
“I want to prove [to] everyone that I can beat him because no one thinks I can. So that’s what I want to do. But if I do get promoted to undisputed without fighting him, it’s cool, you know what I mean.”
“If he doesn’t end up fighting, you never know, once I beat Justin, I could end up being like Tom Aspinall and just getting promoted to undisputed champ, but I’m going to win the belt.
“If I don’t have to win it and I get promoted, I’ll defend the belt. If I do have to beat Ilia to win the undisputed, I will.”
While they have historically had a heated rivalry, Pimblett wished Topuria well with his personal issues.
“I’m never going to say nothing bad about someone’s family, it’s just not me,” Pimblett said.
“I’m not a piece of s—. Everything between me and Ilia is between me and Ilia. I’d like to think he’d never mention my family and I wouldn’t mention his.”