Paddy Pimblett has a name in mind for his next fight with the lightweight division that recently received a large shock.
Earlier this week, UFC boss Dana White announced that Islam Makhachev shocked his lightweight title when pursuing a goodweight title fight against Jack della Maddalena.
And with that White revealed that the UFC 317 Main Event on International Fight Week will be an empty lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira.
'El Matador' fought only once before at lightweight, and narrowly avoided the defeat when he came from behind and Jai Herbert eliminated in 2022.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Paddy Pimblett makes a daring callout after lightweight news
With Topuria that goes up from featherweight and is chosen to fight immediately for the title, he has defeated several old 155 pounds of contenders, Paddy Pimblett is one of them.
Paddy 'The Baddy' took the biggest victory of his career so far last April at UFC 314 and destroyed Michael Chandler on his way to a third round -stop win.
Although he is only arranged at number eight in the division, the Brit is on an impressive Seven Fight Win Streak and is one of the most popular hunters in the division.
Pimblett is generally considered a future star in the UFC and is compared to Conor McGregor by Dana White.
And after missing the lightweight title shot, Pimblett has an idea of ​​whom he would like to fight in a number one contender fight.
“I am sure that if I (Justin) defeated Gaethje, I am the next one,” Pimblett told UFC on TNT sports.
“It could be (the next one for me), yes. It is just whether he says yes or not, isn't it? He would fight the ranking again (I would fight with him) in Abu Dhabi in October, that pay-per-view, that is when I want to fight, that is when I focus on and after what I did to Chandler, he went on.
Justin Gaethje will have his choice of two contenders
Despite the call from Pimblett by Justin Gaethje, the former UFC -Interim -light weight champion has also been called up for a fight by Arman Tsarukyan.
'The highlight' was hopeful to combat Islam Makhachev after the Russian had set him a potential opponent because they have never fought before, but things did not flourish for the lightweight star.
Because Gaethje probably doesn't have much more fighting in his career, it is fair to say that a fight against 'The Baddy' would be a bigger fight than a potential fight against 'Ahalkalakets'.