{"id":385401,"date":"2026-01-03T10:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385401\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T10:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:40:19","slug":"mma-in-2026-paddy-pimblett-tom-aspinall-dakota-ditcheva-to-take-british-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385401\/","title":{"rendered":"MMA in 2026: Paddy Pimblett, Tom Aspinall, Dakota Ditcheva to take British spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In Aspinall&#8217;s absence, fellow Briton Paddy Pimblett takes the British MMA spotlight when he faces American Gaethje at UFC 324 on 24 January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The interim bout has been made because champion Ilia Topuria will not be fighting while he works through issues in his personal life. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last week, Topuria <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DSSIdnGDJKi\/?hl=en-gb&amp;img_index=2\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released a statement, external<\/a> revealing he is facing allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife &#8211; allegations the Georgian-Spaniard says are untrue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With Pimblett yet to record a win over any of the current top 10 in the UFC&#8217;s lightweight rankings, some have suggested he has been &#8220;cherry picked&#8221; for a title shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/articles\/c4gvp75evzxo\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">broader picture,<\/a> however, gives more insight as to why Pimblett may have been chosen over other viable contenders, with a large part of the reasoning down to his entertainment value.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If and when Topuria returns, it could set up an enticing clash with Pimblett for the undisputed title, should he beat Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The pair have history after clashing at a hotel before UFC London in 2022, where Pimblett was filmed throwing a bottle of hand sanitiser at Topuria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Pimblett has won over his doubters almost every time he has stepped inside the octagon, so do not be surprised he if he&#8217;s got a few more tricks up his sleeve for 2026.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Aspinall&#8217;s absence, fellow Briton Paddy Pimblett takes the British MMA spotlight when he faces American Gaethje at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-385401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}