Ilia Topuria’s first title defense has become the most hotly debated matchmaking question of the lightweight division, and the list of volunteers has been long. Paddy Pimblett wants it. Justin Gaethje demands it. Yet behind the curtain, the UFC seems to have settled on a completely different direction, one shaped by real animosity, a viral backstage clip, and a rivalry that keeps spilling into the public. And according to Daniel Cormier, the choice wasn’t even that complicated.

But how did Pimblett and Gaethje, two of the division’s biggest names, lose their spot in the queue? The answer lies in a hallway in Qatar, a disputed “slap,” and the kind of organic rivalry the UFC hasn’t seen in a while!

Daniel Cormier snubs Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje’s title shot for Arman Tsarukyan

In a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, a clip of which was later shared on X by Red Corner MMA, Daniel Cormier didn’t dance around the subject. “I know for a fact that they wanted to do Paddy versus Justin (Gaethje),” he revealed, adding, “It went over Justin after what he’s done already.”

The former champ-champ even admitted he would have accepted Pimblett fighting for gold right now, saying he still believes ‘The Baddy’ needs to continue to grow,” but that his win over Michael Chandler was so impressive that fans suddenly went, “man the way he beat Chandler. We’ve never seen that before.”

But when the conversation turned to Topuria, Cormier’s tone shifted. Ilia Topuria wasn’t just another name, as he pointed out, “But Ilia is a different beast. He’s a savage. And so is Arman Tsarukyan. I believe that Arman versus Ilia is the fight man, 100%. From the interactions they have, the way that you can tell that those guys don’t like each other.”

Why Tsarukyan? Because the heat between them refuses to cool. Their backstage encounter at UFC Qatar sparked a full-blown online war. Topuria claimed he slapped him.  Tsarukyan fired back on X, “Bro, you touched my neck like we were taking a family photo and now you’re calling it a slap online?” and took a shot at his “insecurity” and made a promise to “see you soon, El Pato”, Spanish for ‘The Duck’, a clear shot at the champion.

That’s why Cormier sees the perfect storm as he further shared, “It’s easy to build a fight between these two.” And importantly, he believes the matchup hits the sweet spot every promoter craves: competitiveness with uncertainty because “You feel like there is a chance Arman Tsarukyan can win, but you also know that there’s not a person in the world that Ilia Topuria can’t beat”

Pimblett, for his part, has made his case loudly. He insists he’s already in Topuria’s head, pointing back to their UFC 317 face-off after ‘El Matador’ knocked out Charles Oliveira. “I’m already in his head,” he told JNMEDIAUK, arguing that their fiery history, from hotel clashes to press conference shoves, makes him the obvious choice. But history isn’t the same as momentum, and Pimblett’s rise, while dramatic, seemingly doesn’t outweigh the UFC’s current matchmaking instincts as laid out by Cormier.

As for Gaethje, his frustration sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, warned that his fighter’s ultimatum isn’t smoke as he stated that the lightweight star “will retire” if he gets skipped by Paddy Pimblett.  In his mind, the only man with a stronger claim than Gaethje is Arman Tsarukyan.

So what does all this mean? Whether the slap happened or not almost doesn’t matter anymore. The clip is viral, the words are sharp, and the rivalry sells itself. However, there’s still a matter of the timeline, as ‘El Matador’ recently laid out when he plans to step back into the Octagon.

Ilia Topuria admits he has “nothing on the horizon” so far for his next fight

Here’s where things get interesting. For all the noise around his next opponent, Ilia Topuria has recently admitted he’s just as confused as the rest of us. He fought only once in 2025, his emphatic knockout of Charles Oliveira to claim the lightweight crown.

In a recent interview with KOlmenero, he stated, “I haven’t been told anything about any fights, so I have nothing on the horizon.” Why the delay? Rumors of a divorce could be a factor. Or maybe Topuria is simply pushing for fights too big for the promotion to greenlight quickly. After all, is it really surprising that a man chasing legacy doesn’t want a routine first defense?

As he further shared in the interview, “I can sense things as always, and it also depends on me, right? Whoever wants to fight, in the end, the interests of both sides come into play. We’ll see what happens.”

And those interests? They stretch far beyond a standard lightweight title defense. He says he still has Paddy Pimblett “on my mind,” but only if the UFC refuses to let him leap up a division to face Islam Makhachev. If not, he floated an even wilder idea: a new catchweight championship, a “pound-for-pound” belt created just for him and Makhachev.

So the question becomes: does the UFC follow Daniel Cormier’s logic and strike while the Tsarukyan–Topuria rivalry is red hot? Do they lean into Pimblett’s star power despite the risk? Or do they gamble on Gaethje’s threat turning into a storyline of its own? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!