Topuria Says Yes to Coaching The Ultimate Fighter Against Pimblett: "Why Not?"

Ilia Topuria has told talkSPORT he is open to coaching opposite Paddy Pimblett on The Ultimate Fighter — stressing nothing is official and he has not spoken to the UFC — and in his first English-language interview since losing to Justin Gaethje, he set April, May or June for his return to the Octagon.

The idea came from Pimblett. Last month, in an interview with All Out Fighting, the Liverpudlian proposed the two coach rival teams on The Ultimate Fighter and predicted Topuria would refuse: "I think he will be scared to do it because he knows that I will get on his head that bad that he would not be able to focus on the fight… I don't think he would accept it. I would love him to… but I just don't think he has the balls."

Topuria has now answered. Speaking to Adam Catterall on talkSPORT's One On One MMA, he said: "I heard something about that [TUF]. They want to do it, me against Paddy. Nothing official. I haven't spoken with anyone from the UFC just to clear it up." Asked whether it could happen, he added: "But, yeah, it's something that could happen. Why not?"

He left no doubt about the size of the fight itself. "It would be a huge fight," Topuria said, framing himself as the division's money fight: "You put me against anyone right now, and I'm going to change their lives financially. And the bad part is that I'm going to change their lives physically also. Nothing fears me." Dana White has already heard the idea and likes it. At the UFC 332 post-fight press conference last month, White said: "I love the idea of that, but a lot of things determine how things play out… We'll see how the timing plays out, but that would definitely be a good one." The last series, TUF 34, concluded at UFC Vegas 121 in September; no season number or date exists yet for a Topuria–Pimblett edition.

The timeline fits. Topuria said he will return to full contact training in January, having been limited to running and conditioning work since the Gaethje fight, and named his return window: "If everything is alright, I'm going to get back in the Octagon in April, May, June, something like that." A coaching season filmed in the spring would land him on exactly that schedule.

Pimblett has not yet publicly responded to the answer, as of Saturday. The 24-4 lightweight is ranked No. 5 and is coming off a 52-second D'Arce choke submission of Benoît Saint-Denis at UFC 329 in July. His last public words on Topuria came in that same October interview, when he called the former champion "a little bit of damaged goods" after the first loss of his career: "He's never lost before, so I don't think he'll ever be the same when he comes back."

The rivalry needs no manufacturing. It dates to March 2022, when the two clashed at the fighter hotel during UFC London fight week and Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitiser at Topuria's head — the origin of his "hand sanitiser boy" nickname for the Georgian-Spaniard.

TUF is not the only road back. Topuria made clear his first wish remains the Gaethje rematch. He lost his lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250 in June by corner stoppage after the fourth round — his brother Aleksandre stopped it on the stool — and revealed he fought on with four broken bones: "my two orbital bones, my nose and my foot." He credited Aleksandre with saving his vision, softened the glove-tampering accusation he had levelled at Gaethje — "I don't want to take any credit from him. He did an amazing job, he was the better man that night" — and said of the champion: "All I can say is congratulations, but our story is far from over… I want to have my rematch, and it's going to happen at some point." For now, though, the freshest door is the one Pimblett opened — and Topuria just walked through it.