In combat sports, a rivalry between two fighters often transcends into a rivalry between two camps. Let’s take Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov as examples, as their rivalry saw clashes between their teams. But for the proud Scouser, Paddy Pimblett, his feelings towards Arman Tsarukyan are just limited to the Armenian star because ‘The Baddy’ had some words of praise after the performance his teammate delivered at UFC 319.

The consensus heading into UFC 319 was that Khamzat Chimaev needs to secure a win as early as he can. Why? Well, Dricus du Plessis‘ gas tank and resilience were the factors surrounding that notion. However, ‘Borz’s preparations for the fight paid dividends because the Chechen star outworked his South African counterpart with the kind of cardio people weren’t expecting from Chimaev. But there have been criticisms, and Paddy Pimblett, who shared a reaction video on YouTube to the PPV, weighed in on it.

Paddy Pimblett defends Khamzat Chimaev while taking aim at Arman Tsarukyan

Khamzat Chimaev’s high-level grappling showcase at UFC 319 left a bit of a bad taste in a certain section of fans’ mouths because it wasn’t exciting enough. However, those fans saw many prominent MMA fighters, like Demetrious Johnson, who blasted them for such sentiments about Chimaev’s fight, claiming that they should not watch UFC anymore if that’s how they felt about his performance. Even former rival Kamaru Usman came out to defend the new champion. Similarly, Paddy Pimblett believes that the negativity towards the Chechen star is mostly coming from “casual” fans and viewers of the sport of mixed martial arts.

“For the casuals, this isn’t gonna be a fun fight to watch, but for people who actually do MMA… [and] old school fans, they’ll appreciate this. I appreciate it because this is levels of the game, and Khamzat’s grappling level is very high. His wrestling is MMA wrestling,” Paddy Pimblett stated on his YouTube channel. Claiming that Chimaev put in a once-in-a-lifetime performance, he further stated, “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fight like this, a champion [losing in] such a one-sided beatdown because Chimaev maybe won every second of this fight.”

Paddy Pimblett then turned his attention to Arman Tsarukyan, who cornered Khamzat Chimaev this past weekend, and took a hilarious jibe at his lightweight counterpart. Ripping ‘Ahalkalakets’ demands for a title shot, ‘The Baddy’ not only claimed that Tsarukyan will never become champion but also said that his cornering the middleweight champion is just a means to stay relevant. “Arman’s doing his best to get as much screen time as he can while his mate wins the belt. [That’s the] closest that tool will come to touching it, innit?” Pimblett added.

Well, Paddy Pimblett may not be in the wrong for taking unwarranted shots at Arman Tsarukyan. The Armenian star recently made some attacking comments about the Liverpudlian star as well. In fact, Tsarukyan claims that the UFC should stop considering Pimblett as a top contender.

Tsarukyan claims Dana White should remove Pimblett from the LW rankings

The rivalry between these two lightweight stars is intensifying with each comment they make about each other. Just a few weeks ago, the Armenian star came unglued in his thoughts about Paddy Pimblett, as Arman Tsarukyan claimed that he should not be in the rankings at all. But this comment was not out of spite because he had some facts to back it up.

Arman Tsarukyan claims that Paddy Pimblett’s recent wins have come against ageing veterans, who also have a losing streak going on. As such, he finds it hard to comprehend that ‘The Baddy’s been making the buzz about potentially fighting Ilia Topuria. “You’ve got to delete [Pimblett] from the rankings,” the #2-ranked LW star stated on the Overdogs Podcast.

“He’s not even deserving to be in top 10. He beat the last three guys; it was [Michael] Chandler. He had three losses. It was Bobby Green; he had three or four losses. It was Tony Ferguson; he had eight losses,” Arman Tsarukyan added. “That’s crazy, and you want to bring that guy to fight for the title? You shouldn’t even mention his name, he doesn’t even deserve even mentioning his name.”

Well, the growing intensity between Paddy Pimblett and Arman Tsarukyan does appear to be an option for Dana White to set up a fight. It will certainly get fans buzzing, but then again, some are advocating for the Armenian star to get his title shot. How do you think the UFC should navigate this situation? Drop your comments below.