Paddy Pimblett doesn’t understand why Islam Makhachev was forced to vacate his lightweight title while Jon Jones still gets to parade around as the UFC’s heavyweight champion.
Earlier this month, Dana White announced that Makhachev was forgoing his 155-pound championship in a bid to move up and challenge Jack Della Maddalena for the promotion’s welterweight crown. The news didn’t come as much of a shock as White previously confirmed that Makhachev’s next fight all hinged on how things played out between Belal Muhammad and ‘JDM’ at UFC 315 in Montreal.
With Della Maddalena’s win over Muhammad, Makhachev will move up to fight him while Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliviera will battle it out at UFC 317 for the lightweight title he’s leaving behind.