Dana White wasn’t a fan of Paddy Pimblett crashing Ilia Topuria’s title win at UFC 317.
Ilia Topuria made quick work of former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in the UFC 317 headliner on Saturday night.
The undefeated Topuria followed up knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway with yet another one, taking out Oliveira with power punches in a couple of minutes just like he predicted he would.
A champion again, Topuria is one of ten fighters to win titles in two weight classes.
After he made history at UFC 317, Topuria wasted no time in welcoming a fight with UK star Paddy Pimblett, a title defense he had recently ruled out. The heated rivals squared off inside the Octagon and Topuria pushed Pimblett after a few words.
According to the UFC CEO, the Topuria-Pimblett face-off shouldn’t have even happened.
- READ MORE: Arman Tsarukyan reacts to Ilia Topuria ‘avoiding’ him for Paddy Pimblett face-off at UFC 317
‘That’s not the fight’ … Dana White on Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett face-off at UFC 317
Octagon face-offs between fighters usually indicate that’s the next fight to make in the division.
We saw the new #1 flyweight contender Joshua Van essentially confirm himself as Alexandre Pantoja’s next title challenger by facing off with him following his win at UFC 317.
That sat well with Dana White, but Pimblett and Topuria? Their face-off was a different story.
“Well, he’s the number one contender,” White said of allowing Van to face off with Pantoja.
“I just said that the winner of that fight would get a title shot and obviously, the fans wanted to [see the face-off].”
White continued.
“My thing with Ilia Topuria is his wife and kid are in the Octagon…
“That’s not the fight,” White said of Topuria and Pimblett facing off.
“It shouldn’t happen.
“Well, that’s not really what we do,” White responded to a reporter saying the face-off was ‘fun to watch’.
“I don’t give a s— if it was fun to watch or not. That shouldn’t happen. Plus, he wins a second title in a higher division. It was a bad call by whoever the hell let them in there.”
Joe Rogan gestured to security to allow Paddy Pimblett in the Octagon
During his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Topuria snubbed #1 contender Arman Tsarukyan of the next title shot because he had withdrawn from a title fight with Islam Makhachev due to a back injury.
While he was obviously talking about Tsarukyan, Rogan had misunderstood him and thought he was addressing the #8-ranked contender Paddy Pimblett.
Asked about fighting Pimblett, Topuria said ‘bring him here’.
“Paddy’s in the audience, let’s see if we can get him to come up,” Joe Rogan said on the microphone.
The security cageside didn’t second-guess Rogan and let Pimblett in the cage without any problems.
“Look at me. I’m gonna submit you, you little p—-. I’m gonna put my b—- on your forehead,” Topuria told Pimblett.
“You would never knock me out. I’d finish you little man,” Pimblett said before Topuria pushed him.