Paddy Pimblett has warned his rivals Ilia Topuria and Arman Tsarukyan that he’ll have back-up if either man and their entourages attempts to gang up on him while attending this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 265 event in Qatar.

Tsarukyan is of course headlining the event, but Topuria is also in town due to his brother Alexandre competing on the card, while PImblett will be there in support of his teammates Shaqueme Rock and Luke Riley, who also feature on the preliminary card.

Pimblett and Topuria had a brief skirmish prior to an event a few years ago and the bad blood between them still stands, while the UK star also has an ongoing ward of words with fellow title-hopeful Tsarukyan, so tensions are bound to be running high.

All this comes in the wake of chaotic scenes in the stands during last weekend’s UFC 322 event at Madison Square Garden in NYC after a brawl broke out between Dillon Danis and Islam Makhachev’s camp, and it seems Pimblett isn’t ruling out a similar situation in Qatar if either of his rivals tries anything.

“Arman and Ilia a both bullies and gang up on people when they’re alone,” Pimblett told JNMEDIAUK. “Ilia tried to do it to me. Arman tried to do it to Bobby Green, but there’ll be a team of us this time, so if they try and gang up on us they’re going to get their eye wiped. They’re going to get a couple of smacks.”

Pimblett then went on to talk about potential opponents for his next fight, including taking a dig at Justin Gaethje, while continuing to talk up a title showdown against Topuria.

“I don’t ever want to say a bad word about Justin Gaethje because he’s a legend, but he’s been doing interviews lately being a proper b*tch,” Pimblett said. “Saying like the UFC owes him and he deserves it and all of that.

“No one’s owed nothing. You fight for it. And my last win, I beat someone in a better fashion who was a higher ranked opponent than he won in his last fight. I know he’s a legend and obviously he’s done a lot for the company and all that, but he can’t just demand a title shot. 

“Then you’ve got Arman who hasn’t fought in, it’ll be like 18 months or something like that. Me and Topuria’s got the storyline built in. It’s all there. The storyline is already set up. It’s all ready to go. I don’t understand why it’s not announced and why it’s not already made and written in a contract. But we’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.”