Paddy Pimblett has stated his belief that dethroned lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will never be the same again after his corner waved off his fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250 after a brutal four round beatdown.

Pimblett was also left battered and bruised by Gaethje in their fiver-rounder earlier in the year, so he knows exactly how hard-hitting he can be, but ‘The Baddy’ believes that the outcome could also take something out of Topuria psychologically too.

“It’s just Gaethje gets you into that dog fight, drags you into it. You know what I mean? And Ilia’s never had that. Ilia’s never had to come back from adversity. Ilia’s only ever been the hammer. He’s never been the nail,” Pimblett said on Demetrious Johnson’s ‘Mightycast’ podcast.

“I don’t think Ilia Topuria ever comes back the same.

“His whole mindset, his whole like ego, you know what I mean? Like he is like, ‘I’m undefeated. No one can beat me.’ Having celebrations the night before the fight. I just don’t think he’ll ever be the same. He’s never had to come back from nothing like that. I’ve had to face adversity before.

“Nothing can prepare you for it. That’s the thing. And that’s why I think he’ll never come back the same. Nothing can prepare you for it. But we’ll find out what sort of man he is if he does come back and when he does come back because as I say, I’ve been there before. I’ve been beat. You know what I mean? And I’ve had to come back stronger every time. And I have done. He’s never been beat. He’s never had to do this before. He’s going to have to look at himself in the mirror and be like, ‘What? I’ve just got my head smashed in. I need to come back.’ And you never know. He might not have the cojones to do it.”

Pimblett isn’t the only fighter thinking along those lines, and in fact Gaethje himself said much the same thing during an interview with Joe Rogan earlier in the week, likening it to when he ended Tony Ferguson’s long winning streak a few years ago, leading to him losing his next seven fights.

In all fairness though, Topuria is still only 29-years-old and hadn’t gone through much adversity prior to this, whereas Ferguson was much later in his career and taken a lot of punishment in his fights.

Still, there’s no doubt that it’s going to be very interesting to see how Topuria rebounds from this tough loss now that his aura of invincibility has been shattered.