Paddy Pimblett is not on board with Ilia Topuria’s plan to return to the Octagon this coming April.

Contender or Pretender: What is Paddy Pimblett's ceiling in the UFC? | MMA Fighting

This coming Saturday, ‘The Baddy’ will compete in his first UFC main event when he takes on Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324.

Fans were expecting Dana White to announce a fight between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett for the first event of the new Paramount era, but ‘El Matador’ declared that he is taking a hiatus from the sport to deal with personal matters.

And after fans questioned when we will see the 28-year-old champion back in the cage, Topuria confirmed his comeback plan last week.

Pimblett tells Topuria he’s ‘gonna have to wait’

The majority of the UFC fanbase is hopeful that the Englishman is victorious this coming Saturday so that it sets up a fight between the two longtime rivals.

And although Topuria is plotting a return in April to June, ‘The Baddy’ has other ideas and has shut down the idea of a title unification fight that soon.

“He’s not getting me back in April, lad. He’s gonna have to wait, he made me wait, he can wait a few months, April is not happening, lad,” Pimblett told TMZ Sports.

“Yeah, (I’ll fight later in the year), I’m not fighting in April, lad, he can eat s—. I’ll fight him in like, July, June or July.”

In fairness to ‘The Baddy’, a turnaround from January to April would be extremely quick, and especially considering Pimblett’s tendency to blow up in weight out of camp, is extremely unlikely.

Every July, the promotion hosts their annual International Fight Week event which is usually headlined by a marquee fight, and with Pimblett posing July as a potential date for a unification fight, it could be the perfect fight.

Ilia Topuria | First UFC Champion From Spain & Georgia | UFC

‘The Baddy’ has a tough task ahead first

However, before Pimblett can think of turning down Topuria’s ideas, he needs to get past the extremely tough test that is ‘The Highlight’.

It is undeniable that Gaethje will be by far the toughest test of Pimblett’s career thus far, as he has earned an interim title shot without fighting a single fighter currently ranked inside the top 10 of the lightweight rankings.