Ilia Topuria expected Pimblett, not Gaethje, for UFC White House fight

Ilia Topuria knew he'd be fighting at UFC Freedom 250, but not against Justin Gaethje . When Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) knocked out Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight belt at UFC 317, top contenders Gaethje, Arman Tsarukyan , and Pimblett were all in attendance. But, it was Pimblett who got to face off with Topuria in the octagon, appearing to set up his first title defense.

However, Topuria ended up having to take some personal time off, prompting the promotion to match up Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) against Paddy Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) for the interim title at UFC 324 in January. Topuria predicted that Pimblett would win, but Gaethje put on an impressive performance to claim the belt . "I'm surprised because I thought that Paddy was going to win that fight against Justin," Topuria told One on One MMA .

"I was thinking to myself before that fight that I would face Paddy, because since the first moment that they announced the White House, I always knew that I would be in that event. So I was like, if Justin is fighting against Paddy, I'm going to fight the winner, and I think that Paddy is going to win that fight. I was surprised because of that.

" That set up a title-unification bout between Topuria and Gaethje, which headlines UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 from the White House in Washington D. C. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC champion Ilia Topuria surprised Justin Gaethje beat Paddy Pimblett