Pimblett, who is coming off third-round TKO win over Michael Chandler in April, is ranked No. 10 in the official UFC lightweight rankings after Topuria's entrance following UFC 317. Gaethje, who is 2-2 in his past four fights, is No. 4.

It turns out UFC CEO Dana White didn’t sign off on it, like he did Alexandre Pantoja’s and Joshua Van’s face-off in the co-main event, saying Topuria vs. Pimblett was not the fight to make. Topuria quickly caught wind of White disliking his face-off with Pimblett.

The rivalry between UFC lightweights Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria has long simmered and stems from a social media feud in which Pimblett hurled insults towards the country of Georgia and its people,