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Don’t be mad, Dana — Ilia Topuria is the face of the UFC, and that Paddy Pimblett fight is a blockbuster

It was late on a Saturday night in Las Vegas when Joe Rogan made an executive decision. He was talking to Ilia Topuria, who had just dispatched Charles Oliveira in the first round of UFC 317 exactly as he predicted he would, and asking the UFC’s biggest active star who he’d like to defend his new lightweight title again.

When the name of Paddy Pimblett hit the microphone, coming straight from Rogan’s own mouth as he exercised his power of deduction, Joe did a quick scan of the room. He saw Paddy sitting there and called him up. Next thing you know Topuria and Pimblett were facing off in the Octagon, with the Scouser casting his blue eyes deep into the abyss that Rogan and flung him into.

It was a fine moment in a sport that keeps failing to set the hook when fishing for big fights.

Yet Dana White didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

“I don’t know who the hell let him in there,” the UFC CEO said at the post-fight presser, perhaps more disappointed than mad. “That should have never happened. Let’s start there. I was already back in my room or that would have never happened.”

That someone was Rogan, the rascal of the commenting table, who among other things hurt Arman Tsarukyan’s feelings. Tsarukyam was sitting there, too, and has a more rightful claim to next for Topuria. After all, he was the back-up fighter for Saturday’s main event and went through the trouble of cutting weight. If he was in Dana doghouse for pulling out of his fight with Islam Makhachev back in January at the eleventh hour, he’s poking his nose out of it now.

Tsarukyan is a dangerous matchup for Topuria. He’s an arthouse thinkpiece, a more sophisticated experience. Pimblett is a Michael Bay film. He’s going to give you crashes, explosions and comedic one-liners in the most distressing moments. As a natural foil with some bad blood, he’s going to shade in parts of Topuria’s character that we haven’t yet seen. He’s going to treat the microphone like a fuse burning down to fight night.

And he's going to try his level damndest to get under Topuria’s skin, which might just be a fool’s errand.

Because right now it doesn’t seem like Topuria can be rattled. He made his walk to the Octagon at the T-Mobile Arena — among the full galaxy of stars and fellow fighters in town for International Fight Week — like it was another stroll in the park. He gave a little smirk before the fight that suggested he saw Oliveira’s attempts to beat him as “cute.” How confident was he? He’d already posted a video the night prior of him and his faithful celebrating the victory, as if it had already come to pass. Maybe it had, as nobody is playing so fast and loose with dimensions right now.

In any case, somebody is completely unafraid of what the old-timer’s called “bulletin board material.” That somebody carries the flag of Spain.

Was he loading up on his punches as he swung at Oliveira? He was, oh yes, no doubt about it. He said he would knock Oliveira out in the first round, and that’s what he was going to do. But the poise was mesmerizing. His ease of manner. It says that chaos can be broken just like a wild horse. And it turns out the power he was carrying as the featherweight champion translates perfectly at 155.

In fact, maybe even more so.

Oliveira, who has faced every deadly fighter in his vicinity for the past 15 years, was bleeding profusely as he hung on. Oliveira, who holds the company record for submissions and overall finishes, was trying for a leg lock. Oliveira, who a couple of years ago held the title after running through the likes of Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier, was just trying to survive. He was eating the shots the best he could, but God hasn’t invented the appetite to eat a Topuria punch that lands flush.

A short right and two hammer fists, and boom, Oliveira found himself in what Rogan likes to call the “shadow realm,” a place you never want to get sent to on live television. The fact that Topuria made it look entirely easy is what catapults him into a stratum all his own. He’s not easy to understand.

Bringing in Pimblett was a stroke of genius. Why not plant the seeds for the next fight during the hysteria of Topuria’s transcendent moment? While people were still smacking their foreheads at what they’d just witnessed, Paddy got summonsed to partake in it. To co-star in the moment. And if there was a “be careful what you wish for” thing going on, so be it. Pimblett has proven he belongs there by going 7-0 in the UFC.

Right now, the UFC has a healthy slate of champions. With Tom Aspinall removing the interim label from his heavyweight title, and Merab Dvalishvili continuing to dominate, along with Islam Makhachev making a go at the welterweight title, and Alexandre Pantoja running his defense streak to four in setting up a clashing with 23-year-old Joshua Van, it’s perhaps the healthiest it’s been in years. We even have Kayla Harrison ready to welcome back Amanda Nunes, and a potential Zhang Weili versus Valentina Shevchenko fight hovering out there.

Big-time fighters in big-time fights.

None bigger than Topuria, who walked around with two belts draped over his shoulders on Saturday night and smiled for the cameras as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Nobody feels as lived-in as a titleholder as Topuria. And he didn’t bat an eye when Pimblett got invited to partake in his coronation in Las Vegas. He just stared through him like he has all others, and that in itself is worth the price of admission.

Don’t be too mad at Joe, Dana. He was just feeding the fire that millions will warm their hands to.

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