Former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria isn’t short on enemies.
This year has seen Topuria and Islam Makhachev share furious words with one another amid their growing rivalry.
The animosity stems from the pair’s respective upcoming weight moves, with ‘El Matador’ set to enter the lightweight shark tank and the Dagestani vacating his title to pursue the welterweight gold.
Topuria accused Makhachev of ‘running away’ in response, sparking a war of words on social media.
According to one former UFC title challenger, though, there is only one “real” rivalry in MMA — and it’s not Topuria and Makhachev’s.
Chael Sonnen sees Ilia Topuria vs Paddy Pimblett as a real rivalry
In a recent YouTube video, UFC legend Chael Sonnen placed attention on another of the former featherweight champion’s feuds.
Way before an issue emerged with Makhachev, Topuria didn’t see eye to eye with Paddy Pimblett.
And even as their paths have been separate in recent years, the pair have frequently taken the opportunity to take digs at one another.
Most recently, Pimblett downplayed Topuria’s UFC record. Sonnen took note of the remarks and suggested the soon-to-be lightweight peers share the only genuine rivalry in the promotion and sport as a whole.
“Boy, Paddy went pretty hard at Ilia Topuria. He questioned every fight he did,” Sonnen said.
“Wherever you fall, I think at a minimum, what we can observe is happening here is MMA has a true rivalry, and there’s just not a lot of them out there.
“If that grudge and that rivalry still maintains, then this is the first in a meaningful period of time and the only current rivalry that we have in this sport.”
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Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria had a heated altercation before UFC London event
Topuria and Pimblett’s animosity reached fever pitch at the UFC’s March 2022 visit to London.
Both men featured on the card and remained undefeated in the Octagon, with ‘El Matador’ recording a highlight knockout of Jai Herbert and ‘The Baddy’ submitting Jordan Leavitt.
But before fight night, the pair didn’t have their full focus on their opposition.
Instead, fight week saw Topuria and Pimblett almost brawl at the fighter hotel. During the exchange, the Scouser launched a bottle of hand sanitizer at the Georgian-Spaniard.
Pimblett has been referring to Topuria as ‘hand sanitizer boy’ ever since, a term that would no doubt frequently come up in the build-up to a potential fight between the pair down the line.
The chances of that coming to fruition took a boost recently following confirmation that ‘El Matador’ will depart the featherweight division.
Topuria is set to fight Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 on June 28 for the vacant lightweight title.
Pimblett, meanwhile, is without his next assignment on the calendar after dominating Michael Chandler at UFC 314 in Miami.