Paddy Pimblett wants to see UFC treat Jon Jones same as Islam Makhachev
Paddy Pimblett wonders why Jon Jones is still UFC champion after Islam Makhachev was forced to vacate his belt.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) relinquished his UFC lightweight title for a move up to the welterweight division. He is expected to challenge newly crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena later this year.
Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) was surprised to see Makhachev have to let go of his 155-pound title. With UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones holding onto his belt for a year-and-a-half without unifying it with interim champion Tom Aspinall, Pimblett thinks he needs to face similar treatment.
“I didn’t think they’d make Islam vacate,” Pimblett told TNT Sports. “But, if you’re making Islam vacate, Jones needs to be stripped. If you’re making Islam vacate after four defenses, fighting people on short notice, you should let him try and be double champ.”
Pimblett thinks Makhachev should have defended his UFC lightweight title against Topuria first before moving up to 170 pounds. Instead, Topuria now meets Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the UFC 317 headliner on June 28.
“If I was Islam, I would have fought Topuria, beat Topuria, and then fought Jack Della Maddalena like four months later, because Islam will probably want to headline the Abu Dhabi card (in October),” Pimblett said. “If he smokes Topuria like he smoked (Renato) Moicano and some of the others in the first or second round, he’d be good to go in October against Jack Della. If I was Islam, I would have done that.”
Was Pimblett surprised that Makhachev didn’t end up fighting Topuria at International Fight Week?
“Yeah,” Pimblett answered. “But I can see where he’s coming from. He beat a featherweight twice, saying he doesn’t want to beat another featherweight. Most people think Ilia beats Islam which I don’t so, it would have been nice to see Islam school him.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett calls out UFC’s double standard with Jon Jones
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