Pimblett vows to 'terrorize' Topuria and Tsarukyan while sparing Holloway and Oliveira

Paddy Pimblett has made clear he would bring a very different attitude to a fight with Ilia Topuria or Arman Tsarukyan than he would against other lightweight contenders, telling the Green Light podcast he intends to ‘absolutely terrorize’ either man if they meet inside the octagon.

“If I fight Ilia or Arman, I’m gonna absolutely rinse their lives. I’m gonna absolutely terrorize them,” Pimblett said. “But if I fight Max Holloway or Charles Oliveira I wouldn’t, because I respect them and I like them.”

The Liverpool fighter’s reasoning splits along personal lines. He acknowledged a degree of respect for Topuria but said long-standing bad blood makes the Georgian a target for verbal warfare. “Don’t get me wrong, I respect Ilia, but we’ve had beef for years. I think he’s a little helmet. I’d love to fight him and give him shit.”

For Tsarukyan, Pimblett offered no such qualification. “Arman Tsarukyan, I’ve got no respect for at all. He’s just a rich kid, who’s daddy’s a millionaire,” he said, adding that Tsarukyan is “a good fighter” but one who is “living on daddy’s money, and without dad he wouldn’t be where he is.”

Pimblett’s positioning comes after a mixed run at 155 pounds. He boosted his title credentials with a dominant finish of Benoit Saint Denis in the co-main event of Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor in July, but fell short earlier this year when he challenged Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight belt. The loss means he likely needs at least one more win before a title shot becomes realistic.

On the other side of those potential matchups, Topuria is also without a scheduled fight after suffering the first defeat of his career — a title unification loss to Gaethje at a UFC White House event in June. Tsarukyan, meanwhile, is booked to face Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event of UFC 331 on September 19.