Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett have been going at each other for years, so why not lock them in a house together and let the chaos begin? That could actually happen. UFC CEO Dana White is open to putting the two longtime rivals on opposite corners as coaches for a future season of The Ultimate Fighter before they finally settle their beef inside the Octagon.

And honestly, it’s hard to imagine a more explosive coaching matchup.

“I mean, I love the idea of that, but a lot of things determine how things play out,” Dana White said at the UFC 332 post-event press conference. “Not just for, like, you know, The Ultimate Fighter, but certain fights and title fights and all these… I don’t know. We’ll see how the timing plays out, but that would definitely be a good one.”

The idea picked up steam after ‘The Baddy’ threw it out there himself. Speaking to Kolos MMA ahead of UFC 332, the Liverpool star said a season of The Ultimate Fighter against the former champion would give him six weeks to get inside his rival’s head before they ever stepped into the cage.

“I think me and Ilia Topuria would be a brilliant season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ because I’d get under his skin so much that when we come into the fight,” Paddy Pimblett said. “I’d beat him just as fast as Conor McGregor beat Jose Aldo. ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ would be a very entertaining six weeks, to say the least, if it was me and him.”

Paddy Pimblett was, of course, talking about one of the most iconic moments of Conor McGregor’s career. McGregor needed just 13 seconds to flatten Jose Aldo, snatch the UFC featherweight title, and send shockwaves through the MMA world.

But the Topuria-Pimblett beef has gone way beyond the usual pre-fight trash talk.

‘El Matador,’ who has Georgian and Spanish roots, has spoken openly about his connection to both countries. Pimblett, meanwhile, found himself in hot water after using the 2008 Russia-Georgia war to take a shot at the former champion in a since-deleted social media post, drawing widespread criticism.

Ilia Topuria wasn’t exactly letting the moment die, either. He later posted a screenshot of Paddy Pimblett’s deleted post on X, warning that it would haunt the Liverpool star forever. At that point, their rivalry had clearly moved past the usual pre-fight insults and into much more personal territory.

And the timing of a potential The Ultimate Fighter season couldn’t be more interesting.

‘El Matador’ is coming off the first professional MMA loss of his career. Justin Gaethje stopped him in June, taking away his UFC lightweight championship in the process. Paddy Pimblett knows that feeling all too well after also losing to Gaethje in January.

But unlike Topuria, ‘The Baddy’ has already managed to bounce back. He returned to the win column in July, submitting Benoit Saint Denis and putting himself right back in the mix.

Neither the Spanish-Georgian nor Pimblett has any intention of hanging around the lightweight division without a shot at the top. However, they will have to wait for the opportunity since Justin Gaethje is currently expected to put his championship on the line against top contender Arman Tsarukyan early next year.

So while a TUF showdown would give these two plenty of time to get under each other’s skin, there’s an even bigger prize waiting on the other side: a shot at lightweight gold.

How Possible Is a Ilia Topuria-Paddy Pimblett TUF Season?

Dana White’s hesitation makes sense. Putting two active lightweight contenders in charge of The Ultimate Fighter isn’t as simple as booking a fight and picking a date. The season itself could take around six weeks to film, followed by another four to five months of production before the episodes are ready to hit the screen.

Once it finally airs, fans would then be looking at roughly three more months of weekly episodes. That means Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett could spend more than 10 months trading shots before they even get to trade punches.

And that’s the big question for the UFC. Would all that extra buildup make their eventual fight even bigger, or would fans simply be left waiting forever to see these two finally settle the score inside the Octagon?

Then there’s the small matter of the lightweight title picture. As the head honcho pointed out, the UFC’s plans can change quickly when big fights and championship opportunities enter the equation.

Paddy Pimblett has already made his preference pretty clear. If the lightweight title is up for grabs, he wants Justin Gaethje. The problem? Arman Tsarukyan may have something to say about that after his statement knockout win over Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331.

“I obviously want to be a world champion, so I’d pick Gaethje,” Pimblett told Kolos MMA. “But if there was no belt on the line at all between any of them, I want to beat Ilia Topuria up, so I’d probably pick him.”

Ilia Topuria, meanwhile, still has his sights set on another fight with ‘The Highlight.’ He has even accused the champion of loading his gloves during their June showdown, adding yet another layer of controversy to their matchup.

For now, though, nothing is set in stone. But Dana White’s comments make one thing clear: the UFC isn’t shutting down the idea of putting its two biggest lightweight rivals in opposite corners on The Ultimate Fighter before finally throwing them into the Octagon against each other.