Paddy Pimblett says he might be forced to put this weekend’s UFC 317 main event in jeopardy if things get heated between him and Ilia Topuria in Las Vegas this week.
‘The Baddy’ has confirmed that he will be in attendance for Saturday’s much-anticipated fight card from the T-Mobile Arena which is to be topped by a lightweight title clash for the vacant championship between former featherweight pacesetter Topuria and the Brazilian submission expert Charles Oliveira — and as the former Cage Warriors titleholder plots his own course to te summit of the UFC’s 155-pound fold, Pimblett isn’t ruling out another run-in with rival Topuria.
The two famously came to blows backstage ahead of a UFC event in England many years ago, with Pimblett throwing a bottle of hand sanitiser at his foe during a brief but intense fracas; something he isn’t ruling out occurring once again if they cross paths in Sin City.
“I’m going to be there in Las Vegas on June 28 cageside,” Pimblett said in an interview with Casino.org, as noted by Bloody Elbow. “If he mentions me, I’ll be getting pulled into the cage and I’ll be laughing my head off. It’ll be quite funny.”
That said, if fists start flying between the two rivals the Liverpool man isn’t ruling out being responsible for a last minute change atop the UFC 317 card.
“I don’t cause trouble, I just turn up!” he said. “The time in London when Ilia got the hand sanitiser bottle bounced off his head, I was on my own and he tried to jump me with about nine people. It’s not me who causes mischiefs I’ll just be there with my manager and cameraman.
“If I see him and it goes off, you never know, I might knock him out and he might not even be able to fight Oliveira. I’m not one of those who turns up to try and cause mayhem. If he wants to try and start something though, I’ll finish it, just like I did last time.
“I’ll be there from Wednesday, so we’ll see what happens.”
Whatever happens, Pimblett won’t be called into action in the cage given that former number one contender Arman Tsarukyan has been installed as the backup fighter for the main event.
