Ilia Topuria says Paddy Pimblett ‘needs to die and be born again’ if the pair are to ever fight in the UFC.UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is currently in Miami, Florida, finishing training camp for the first defence of his title against Justin Gaethje.Topuria faced off with Pimblett after knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 – but ‘El Matador’ now believes the clash will never happenGettyGaethje won the interim title at 155lbs by defeating Pimblett at UFC 324 in January and now has a chance to unify the division against Topuria.The two lightweight stars headline the UFC White House card, officially billed as UFC Freedom 250, on June 14.Topuria was actually rooting for Pimblett to win when he fought in Las Vegas, as he thought a fight against the Liverpudlian would’ve been bigger than facing Gaethje.That’s because Pimblett and Topuria share a long hatred for each other that dates back to an altercation at a London hotel in 2022.And if Pimblett had defeated Gaethje, it would’ve been him fighting Topuria for the UFC lightweight title next.However, ‘El Matador’ isn’t bothered that he’s now fighting Gaethje instead and doesn’t believe there’s any way back for Pimblett to get a shot at him soon.Topuria slams ‘little sausage’ Pimblett“I was a little surprised by how bad Paddy really is,” Topuria said this week, speaking about Pimblett’s defeat at UFC 324 on The Ariel Helwani Show.“I was expecting him to win. I was expecting him to take Justin down to do a different fight, to really fight.“But what he did inside the Octagon in that fight surprised me a little bit.“He really proved that he’s a little sausage.”After watching Pimblett vs Gaethje, Topuria says it’s ‘basically impossible’ for the Briton to ever match his skillsGettyThe 29-year-old has vowed to score another huge KO over Gaethje at the White House to go 18-0GettyAsked if Pimblett can come back stronger, Topuria added: “Of course, but how is he going to gain the skills, the technique in the sport?“That’s basically impossible. He needs to die and be born again.“No, [I don’t think we’ll ever fight at this point]. He’s too far; we don’t see Paddy on the horizon. We don’t see him anymore. Bye Paddy.“I didn’t even have to go inside the Octagon to beat him, so that feels a little bit better, to be honest.”Should Topuria come out victorious at UFC Freedom 250, the Georgian-born Spanish fighter is eyeing a third belt in the welterweight division.The 29-year-old wants to become the first ever fighter to hold UFC titles across three divisions, with current welterweight champion Islam Makhachev firmly in his sights.Topuria has waved goodbye to any chances of him fighting PimblettGettyHe plans on defeating Gaethje and moving up to welterweight to do the same to MakhachevGettyAccording to multiple sources, including Topuria himself, the UFC actually tried to book Makhachev vs Topuria at the White House.Topuria claims he was told the day before the announcement of the card that Makhachev had a hand injury and couldn’t fight, so he was offered Gaethje instead.UFC CEO Dana White has denied that ever being the case, but both Topuria and Makhachev’s camps have admitted there were ongoing negotiations to make it happen.Nonetheless, Topuria, the No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound star in the promotion, plans on making light work of Gaethje before moving up a division to face Makhachev.‘El Matador’ says he’s ‘grown so much’ since his last fight — a frightening first-round KO of Charles Oliveira, who has since gone on to dominate Max Holloway at UFC 326.Topuria predicted last year that he would be headlining the White House card and believes the decision is justifiable, as he is one of the biggest names in the UFC right now.UFC ScheduleFor all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s UFC schedule.