UFC star Paddy Pimblett did not stop Charles Oliveira after his brutal knockout loss for Ilia Topuria.
Ilia Topuria secured its second UFC championship belt by eliminating Charles Oliveira in the first round of their UFC 317 headliner. Topuria landed a candidate 'Knock -Out of the Year' on Oliveira; With a clean right hook followed by a left hand while Oliveira collapsed to the canvas.
Topuria won the then vacant lightweight title after Islam Makhachev announced his switch to Welterweight earlier this year. After he had eliminated Oliveira, Topuria had a heated faceoff with old enemy paddy Pimblett, and the two rivals could be on a collision course.
While Pimblett is ecstatic to finally get his chance to arrange his beef with Topuria, he shared a brutal assessment of Oliveira's performance on UFC 317.
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Paddy Pimblett does not stop 'amateur' Charles Oliveira after UFC 317
Pimblett has plagued free Oliveira during their lightweight career and has plagued a potential combat book several times. But after UFC 317 the admiration of Pimblett for the awards of Oliveira took a big hit.
During a recent performance on the Vers US Podcast, Pimblett went on Oliveira for his UFC 317 version.
“I really love Charles, but what was that game plan?” Said Pimblett.
“Standing in front of him and being beaten in the face. He did a little, let him go, bone kicked him. And I thought it could be a tough night for Topuria … But when Oliveira was walking away, I thought he seemed nervous … I would like to know what the game plan was. What do you just do in the middle?
“It surprised me how stupid he can be. It was his 47th pro fight and he went in like an amateur.”
The loss of Oliveira against Topuria was his second consecutive defeat in UFC title fights, after he fell to Makhachev for the then vacant title on UFC 280. Before he fell to Topuria, Oliveira earned victories about Michael Chandler and Beneil Dariush to return to the lightweight Titel photo.
Oliveira seemed to include the loss in his first post-puc 317 social media comments, but his performance has left many more questions than answers. He could possibly return to the Octagon later this year, but is now a few fights of possibly a different lightweight title shot.
Paddy Pimblett is said to face Justin Gaethje after UFC 319 Fight Lek
As far as the next step is for Pimblett, UFC made middleweight champion Dric du Plessis earlier this week when he claimed that Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje will serve next month if the UFC 319 Co-Main event. This would be contradictory with the idea that Pimblett conquers the next lightweight title shot after his faceoff with Topuria, but from this letter nothing has been formally announced by the UFC matchmakers.
Gaethje initially hinted upon retirement if he did not receive the next lightweight title shot. A victory over Pimblett would almost certainly conquer another title opportunities, prior to the most important competition Arman Tsarukyan.
UFC CEO Dana White was non-committal for Topuria vs. Pimblett that was the next for both rivals, which means that a UFC 319 confrontation between Pimblett and Gaethje is useful. Time will learn whether the claims from Du Plessis will flourish.