Pimblett keeps signed sanitizer bottle to taunt Topuria at future UFC press conference

Paddy Pimblett intends to use a relic from his 2022 brawl with Ilia Topuria as psychological ammunition, telling Jeremy Piven that he has kept — and signed — the hand sanitizer bottle he hurled at the Georgian fighter during a heated altercation at a London hotel three years ago.

The incident, which required security intervention, sparked one of the UFC lightweight division’s more colourful rivalries. Pimblett says the bottle now sits on display at his gym, and he has a very specific plan for it should the two men ever meet at a pre-fight press conference.

“I hope [Ilia is next], I hate him,” Pimblett said. “He got a push because of the stuff with me. He got pushed fast through the rankings because of it. No one knew who he was. I’ve always got that exact bottle of hand sanitizer that I threw at his head… I’ve signed it and now it’s just sat in the gym. So, if I do ever fight him and have a press conference with him, that will be coming with me. And I’ll just sit it on the desk. It’ll be quite funny.”

The bad blood between the two fighters traces back to an online dispute involving Topuria’s friend and fellow Georgian Guram Kutateladze. Topuria took exception to comments Pimblett made about Georgia and the Russo-Georgian war, and the tension spilled into the physical confrontation in London.

Both fighters have had eventful recent runs in the lightweight division. Pimblett, now 24-4, fell short in an interim lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje earlier this year but bounced back emphatically with a 52-second submission victory over Benoît Saint Denis. Topuria, 17-1, suffered his first professional defeat when Gaethje stopped him to claim the undisputed lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250, leaving the former featherweight champion’s path back to gold uncertain.

Whether a Pimblett-Topuria matchup materialises remains to be seen, but the Liverpudlian is clearly keeping the rivalry — and its props — very much alive.