Paddy Pimblett almost came to blows with rival Ilia Topuria at the UFC 282 press conference on Thursday as tensions between the two fighters boiled over.
'The Baddy' is in action this weekend when he takes on Jared Gordon in the co-main event of the card in Las Vegas but has developed a rivalry with fellow lightweight Topuria after the two got into an altercation at UFC London in March, when Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitizer at the unbeaten fighter.
The two have yet to be booked in a fight but Topuria takes on Bryce Mitchell in the main card opener at UFC 282. But rather than focus on his upcoming opponent, Topuria has spent much of the week goading Pimblett.
And he wasted little time when the press conference started, saying Pimblett "quit when he saw me coming".
Pimblett responded: “He’s obsessed with me. He hasn’t stopped tweeting about me all week. He needs to sort his life out. That little bum’s irrelevant.
“I haven’t seen him all week. The UFC have kept us apart. Cause when I saw him last time, he got a hand sanitizer bottle bounced off his [head]. Hand sanitizer boy! You’re known as hand sanitizer boy, you little mongrel.”
The Next Generation MMA fighter also called Topuria a 'chorizo, a Spanish sausage', and the two continued to argue as UFC president Dana White and other fighters on the card watched on.
Eventually Topuria shouted: "Shut up. “F*** you. You want to talk to me man to man, I went to your country, I slapped your face. I walk like a king in your streets.
“Shut up, or I’m going to stand up and crush your face right now.”
Pimblett responded: “Do it, then you little p***** – do something. What’ll you do? You’ll do nothing. Go and sit back down. Sit back down you little p****. You f***ing mushroom."
Security prevented the two getting their hands on each other but the argument didn't stop there, with Topuria continuing to claim Pimblett was scared to face him.
He said: “I don’t think he has the balls to face me and close himself in the octagon with me. “So f*** him. You see, he didn’t give me a response. Why? Because he’s scared of me.”
To which Pimblett, 27, responded: "You’re irrelevant to my life. Why would I be scared of you? You’re a midget with little man syndrome. You’re tiny. Why would I be scared of you?”
Eventually, The Baddy, who has won all three of his previous fights in the UFC, exchanged heated words with his opponent for Saturday, Gordon, as the two clashed over a previous sparring encounter.
But it was his issues with Topuria which overshadowed the press conference and a showdown between the talented young fighters now feels inevitable at some stage.
