Following Ilia Topuria‘s big win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, the newly-crowned champ wasted no time before taking aim at Paddy Pimblett, who was sitting in the crowd.
Although Dana White wasn’t a fan of the two doing a staredown inside the Octagon, and told media members that he would’ve shut things down if he had the opportunity, Topuria and Pimblett have continued to trade barbs, igniting talk of a potential fight.
The way Max Holloway sees things, even though Ilia Topuria has been on a legendary run, it’s hard to count The Baddy out of a potential fight.
During an interview with Stake.com, Holloway, who is an athlete ambassador for the company, weighed in:
“We see what happens in MMA when a lot of people talk about something being a mismatch…it’s MMA man anything can happen! Somebody can get caught, somebody can slip, and things just happen.
“We see weird things happen in this sport so at the end of day, you cannot count anyone out. UFC is about selling fights that people want to see if people keep talking about that fight enough it might happen.”
Holloway Dubs Gaethje-Pimblett Fight as Potential FOTY
In addition to talk of a fight between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett, there’s been talk of The Baddy colliding with Justin Gaethje.
Following the UFC 317 card, UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis revealed that Gaethje and Pimblett would be throwing down on the UFC 319 card in August.
While The Baddy shot down the rumors, indicating that there was no way he would be fighting in August, he didn’t outright rule out a fight with the former BMF champion.
While speaking in the aforementioned interview with Stake, Holloway dubbed a Gaethje-Pimblett bout as a potential Fight of the Year contender:
“I think it is a fun fight. Paddy is a brawler, man. But then not only that, if he gets you to the ground, he is a dangerous dude. So at the end of the day, I mean, him and Justin Gaethje would be super intriguing.
“I think it would be a fun fight for the fans. For sure a fight of the year contender.”
Max Holloway Reflects on Topuria’s KO Power
As someone who has been in the Octagon with Ilia Topuria, Max Holloway knows firsthand just how hard El Matador hits.
As he explained in the aforementioned interview with Stake, the newly minted champ may very well be the hardest puncher in the UFC:
“But you have to say that he hits hard because you see what happens to people when he touches them. So at the end of the day, maybe it is hard to deny that, you know, he might be one of the biggest punchers in UFC history, pound for pound, for sure.”
That sort of knockout power has been dubbed “the touch of death” by famed coach Firas Zahabi. In the past, Zahabi has used the term when describing the power of fighters like Francis Ngannou, Conor McGregor, and Alex Pereira.
Given that Paddy Pimblett has long maintained that Scousers don’t get knocked out, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out if the two do ever share the Octagon.
Max Holloway Weighs-In On Potential Topuria-Pimblett Fight