Ilia Topuria hasn’t held back in his criticism of Paddy Pimblett, saying their window to fight closed months ago.

The featherweight champion is preparing for a title unification bout against Justin Gaethje at UFC White House. If Pimblett had won the interim belt at UFC 324, it could have set up a showdown between the two, ending one of the sport’s most heated rivalries.

Pimblett was unbeaten in the octagon until earlier this year, but Topuria doesn’t think he’ll be able to climb back to the top any time soon.

Ilia Topuria didn’t hold back during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, taking aim at several rivals. While Arman Tsarukyan and Justin Gaethje caught some heat, it was Paddy Pimblett who drew the sharpest criticism.

“I was a little surprised of how bad Paddy really is,” Topuria recalled when asked about his long-time rival. “I was expecting him to win, be honest. I was expecting him to take Justin down, to, I don’t know, do a different fight. Like to really fight.

“But what he did inside the Octagon in that fight, it surprised me a little bit. He really proved that he’s a little sausage.”

When Helwani asked how Pimblett will rebound from the loss, Topuria laughed off the idea, adding: “Rebound from what? From a loss? Of course, but how he’s going to gain the skills, the technique in the sport? Like, that’s basically impossible. He needs to die and be born again.

“Now he’s too far [from the top fighters in the division]. We don’t see Paddy in the horizon. We don’t see him anymore.

Bye Paddy. I didn’t even have to go inside the Octagon to beat him.

So that feels even a little bit better, to be honest.”

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