Ilia Topuria on Paddy Pimblett: 'I will eat him like the sausage that he is'

The former UFC lightweight champion answered Pimblett's callouts in his first public interview since losing to Justin Gaethje, and said a return is being considered from April.

Ilia Topuria has hit back at Paddy Pimblett for the first time since his defeat by Justin Gaethje, calling the British lightweight a sausage.

"Paddy, Paddy, Paddy, I will eat him like the sausage that he is," Topuria told Spain's ABC in a video interview, speaking in Spanish. It was his first public interview since the loss, in which he also called the defeat the worst day of his career.

Topuria said a comeback is being considered from April. Asked what version of him fans will see in his next fight, he said: "One you have never seen."

Pimblett has been calling for the fight for months, in a feud that goes back to a clash between the two at the fighter hotel for UFC London in 2021. In October he told All Out Fighting that Topuria was "a little bit damaged goods" and would never be the same, and that he would "send him back down to featherweight".

Pimblett has also said Topuria "got a push" up the UFC rankings because of their feud, and that he still has the bottle of hand sanitiser he threw at Topuria's head in a hotel. "It's in the gym," he said.

No fight between the two is booked. Pimblett has said stem cell injections in his left hand leave him unable to use it in training, and Dana White has said Topuria will be back in early 2027. Gaethje beat Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June to win the undisputed lightweight title.

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