Paddy Pimblett downplays Ilia Topuria's UFC resume: 'He's been hand-fed opponents'

Paddy Pimblett questions the legitimacy of Ilia Topuria's run in the UFC.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is unbeaten in his professional MMA career and is coming off back-to-back knockouts of featherweight greats Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. While Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) credits Topuria for his accolades, he thinks timing played a major factor in his success.

"He has done a lot in the sport since then, but I do still think he’s been hand-fed opponents," Pimblett told TNT Sports. "Holloway had just been fighting at 155, had to get back to '45 and had a war with (Justin) Gaethje. Volk had just been knocked out like two months earlier, three months earlier. Josh Emmett was like 37. Bryce (Mitchell), as much as I love Bryce, we know he's not a striker.

"Most of his fights coming up, you can compare them to my fights because people say sh*t around my opponents. Every fight he had before the title, Michael Chandler beats every single one of them. I reckon Bobby Green beats every single one of them. I don't think he beats Volk if Volk hadn't been knocked out three months previous."

Topuria relinquished his featherweight title for a move up to lightweight and will challenge Charles Oliveira for the vacant belt in the UFC 317 main event on June 28 in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). Pimblett is currently eyeing a No. 1 contender fight against Justin Gaethje and could find himself finally crossing paths with Topuria sooner rather than later.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett downplays Ilia Topuria's UFC resume