It appears the heated face-off between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett was not enough to boost ‘The Baddy’ above one man in the pecking order.
It didn’t take long for the focus in the lightweight division to switch from Topuria’s knockout against Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 to the potential next title fight.
Many thought the matchup for the Spaniard’s first defense at 155 pounds got set up in the immediate aftermath of his June 28 triumph, as Topuria faced off with Pimblett inside the cage.
But a couple of other contenders have had something to say about that, and it seems that one of them has edged ahead of Pimblett in the race for a shot at gold.
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Ilia Topuria’s manager says Justin Gaethje is ‘closest’ to getting the first title shot
While Pimblett has the advantage of being involved in a bitter feud with Topuria that has left the likes of Michael Bisping urging the UFC to capitalize, Justin Gaethje has the edge in ranking.
Though Arman Tsarukyan is the highest ranked and made weight as the backup fighter for UFC 317, his withdrawal from a title shot this past January would appear to leave him out of the equation for the time being.
And despite Dana White criticizing Gaethje’s threat to retire if he doesn’t get a title shot next, Topuria’s manager Lukasz Orzel recently told Kanał Sportowy that the former interim champ is the “closest” to getting the fight.
“Third belt is a matter of time. For now, we’ve given our word to the UFC that we will stay at lightweight,” Orzel said (h/t Matysek).
“We’re waiting to see who comes up as the natural contender. We’d like to fight again this year. Gaethje is the closest, time will tell if it’s him.”
Justin Gaethje has the backing of another UFC lightweight contender
While Gaethje’s claim to another shot has been dismissed by some in the community, ‘The Highlight’ does have the support of the man he was supposed to fight this past March.
While speaking on Submission Radio about the current landscape of the lightweight title picture, Dan Hooker picked Gaethje as the likely challenger chosen by the UFC for Topuria’s first defense later this year.
“I think they wanna do Gaethje (vs.) Paddy, but apparently Gaethje’s not gonna take the Paddy fight,” Hooker said. “It just leaves, like, Paddy or Gaethje.
“The only pay-per-view sales that really count are in the North American market. And so it’s like, even though Paddy’s, like, this big star on Instagram and s—, I don’t know if he actually really moves the needle in North America.
“For sure, Justin Gaethje moves the needle in North America,” Hooker added. “So, I think that he probably makes the UFC the most money by being champion.”
Gaethje and Hooker were slated to do battle at UFC 313 until a broken hand forced the Kiwi out. He was replaced by Rafael Fiziev, whom the American defeated on the scorecards for the second time.