Paddy Pimblett's coach makes bold prediction if 'The Baddy' fights Ilia Topuria

Paddy Pimblett's head coach, Paul Rimmer, believes lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is in for a rude awakening if he's matched up against his fighter. 

Pimblett and Topuria have a storied rivalry that dates back years. Their rift began from online comments by Pimblett that led to a physical altercation at the fighter hotel in London during UFC Fight Night 204 fight week in March 2022. The two nearly came to blows at the UFC 282 Press Conference later that year.

When Topuria stated his intentions of relinquishing the featherweight title to move up to the lightweight division, Pimblett's team knew a fight against "El Matador" was easy matchmaking. 

"We already knew this fight was going to be coming about. Once Paddy broke the Top 10, and Ilia talking about moving up to lightweight, we were already expecting this to happen," Rimmer told Submission Radio. 

Rimmer believes Pimblett is not only bigger than Topuria, he also thinks Pimblett the better fighter. 

"He's a lot bigger than Ilia Topuria, but he's also better than Ilia Topuria. That's the thing. That's what a lot of people don't see. Everyone just kind of writes Paddy off in every fight that he has," Rimmer said. "We know what Paddy is. It's time for people to find out what that is."

Conventional wisdom might say that Pimblett would want to get the fight to the ground against the precision striker but Rimmer doesn't see it that way. 

"You can look at Paddy's last few fights to see that his distance management has greatly, greatly improved. You can see that he hits a lot harder," said Rimmer. 

"We've been working very, very hard on him and it's showing in all his fights. Everyone's saying, 'How can  he improve so quick? How does he get better so quick?' Well, like they say, he is a student of the game. He's one of the hardest workers in the sport. 

"Don't let the little bit of weight gain after a big fight make what you think about him," Rimmer continued. "All fighters do that. Just Paddy's more public than a lot of the other fighters so you see it more." 

"Everyone thinks Ilia is like this unbeatable boogieman that's in the division that like you should fear him. Paddy's also fighting on a long win streak and I can tell you right now, if you had to go and find sparring partner that matches exactly what Paddy is and exactly what Illia is, I'd be able to find a better Ilia than I can a Paddy. I'll tell you that right now."

Topuria recently said that Pimblett would be one of the easiest fights for him in the lightweight division and Rimmer hopes the champion believes it. 

"Please underestimate him. Please don't think he's going to do these things. Please think you're going to walk through him. It's just not going to happen," said Rimmer.

"A bloody mess. That's what he's going to do. He's going to make his face a bloody mess. That's what I know is going to happen."