Paddy Pimblett’s rivalry with Ilia Topuria is the most heated in the current MMA landscape, but there is one man the Brit hates even more.

The former Cage Warriors champion is about to fight Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324, which could set him up for the Topuria bout in a unification. His involvement at this high level has proven controversial, particularly after he moved from number nine to number five without fighting.

This has all left one fighter by the wayside as the world title picture passes him by, despite his holding the number one position in the division. And with Topuria’s future uncertain, it makes for a difficult situation.

Paddy Pimblett claims to hate Arman Tsarukyan more than Ilia Topuria

Paddy Pimblett is no stranger to feuds with his fellow UFC lightweights and beyond. He is a divisive figure, and seems to draw the ire of many top fighters and experts.

While making his declaration about how much he dislikes Arman Tsarukyan in a new video on Tom Aspinall’s channel, one of his coaches even noted that only hearing the end of the conversation, he could be talking about any ‘one of a million people’.

“I just don’t like him anyway, I’ve always thought he’s a piece of s—,” Pimblett told Aspinall after a lengthy rant. “I think I hate him more than Ilia now, lad.”

Paddy Pimblett explains his hatred for Arman Tsarukyan

While the issue between Pimblett and Topuria goes back much longer and has deeper roots, there does seem to be a true animosity towards Tsarukyan. And he noted that the Armenian’s attitude and spoiled family life are why he is so irked.

“He’s great to laugh at, Arman lad,” Pimblett continued. “He’s just one of them lads who thinks because his family has got money he’s got everything handed to him on a plate for years. ‘Oh it’ll just happen in the UFC’, like he’s been told.

“He f—ing pulled out of that Islam Makhachev fight with a ‘bad back’ when really he just couldn’t make weight. Then he got offered to fight Mateusz Gamrot and said no, then took the most favorable matchup against Dan Hooker who can’t grapple to save his mam’s life.

“An amateur in here could look good against Dan Hooker, as long as they can do jiu-jitsu. He doesn’t know how to do jiu-jitsu, he’s a banger and I’ll give him his due I like watching him fight, he’s a scrapper but that’s all he is, he can’t do jiu-jitsu, he’s bad at jits and he nearly guillotined Arman.

“That just shows how bad his grappling is to me, he had an arm in around him. I was watching that thinking ‘wow, if I get you in a guillotine you are going unconscious’.”