Paddy Calls His Shot on Topuria, Plus UFC 332 Weigh-Ins

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

• Morning Report: Paddy Pimblett predicts he’d beat Ilia Topuria ‘as fast as McGregor beat Aldo’ (MMA Fighting)
• Pimblett Claims He Would Destroy Topuria Faster Than McGregor’s 13-Second Knockout (The Body Lock)
• Morning Report: Paddy Pimblett predicts he’d beat Ilia Topuria ‘as fast as McGregor beat Aldo’ (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Paddy Pimblett: "I'd beat Ilia Topuria as fast as McGregor beat Aldo" (MMA Weekly)
• Liverpool-supporting Paddy Pimblett admits UFC rival makes his blood boil more than his hatred for Man Utd (Bloody Elbow)
• LIVE! UFC 332 weigh-in video: Silva vs. Wang (MMA Fighting)
• Official Weigh-In Results | UFC 332: Silva vs Wang (UFC News)
• UFC 332 video: Natalia Silva, Wang Cong make weight for title fight (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• UFC 332 early weigh ins video, LIVE results and updates | Silva vs. Wang (MMA Mania)
• LIVE! UFC 332 Early Weigh Ins Results! (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• 11-1 lightweight finally books UFC 334 debut over a year after earning a contract from Dana White (Bloody Elbow)
• UFC sets Marcos Tailandês' debut for November, in Las Vegas (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Glover Teixeira reveals what caused Raoni Barcelos’ health scare at UFC Vegas 121 (MMA Fighting)
• Glover reveals cause of Raoni Barcelos' sudden illness in UFC: "Brain swelling" (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Traumatic brain injury caused Raoni Barcelos' medical scare at UFC Vegas 121 (MMA Weekly)
• Traumatic brain injury caused Raoni Barcelos' medical scare at UFC Vegas 121 (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Deiveson Figueiredo relives his own experience commenting on Raoni Barcelos's drama: “Agonizing” (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Homeless to history? Green eyes record-breaking UFC year at 40 (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Rafael dos Anjos open to finally fighting Conor McGregor, but won’t ‘sit on the sidelines for 2 years’ like Michael Chandler (MMA Fighting)
• McGregor and the BMF belt! Rafael dos Anjos outlines plans before his 50th career fight (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Rafael dos Anjos open to finally fighting Conor McGregor, but won’t ‘sit on the sidelines for 2 years’ like Michael Chandler (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Jon Anik questions if Gable Steveson will even make it to 10 fights in the UFC after 12-second KO (r/MMA)
• After Knocking Out Gable Steveson, Sean Sharaf Questions His UFC Future (LowKick MMA)
• Early retirement? Jon Anik doubts Gable Steveson reaches 10 UFC fights, ‘How do you regroup?’ (MMA Mania)
• Sean Sharaf ponders retirement after historic Gable Steveson KO: ‘Can I beat that?’ (MMA Mania)
• Joe Rogan Questions Whether Jon Jones Made Gable Steveson Too Confident Before Brutal Knockout (The Body Lock)
• Dana White on Why Josh Hokit Got UFC Heavyweight Title Shot (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Champ Usman Nurmagomedov Targets UFC “Money Fight” Against Arman Tsarukyan (LowKick MMA)
• Dana White calls Eddie Hearn ‘delusional,’ Hearn responds by dunking on White with video receipts (MMA Fighting)
• Eddie Hearn blames Dana White’s ‘arrogance’ for nasty rhetoric in lead-up to Fury vs. Joshua: ‘They’re control freaks’ (MMA Fighting)
• [Official] PFL MENA 11: Riyadh - Live Discussion Thread (r/MMA)
• PFL MENA Boss Jerome Mazet Talks Saudi MMA Boom Ahead of Riyadh Semifinals (LowKick MMA)

Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 106 for October 2nd, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Paddy Pimblett just said something that's going to be everywhere on X by tonight.
NORA: Let's hear it.
DUKE: He says if he gets Ilia Topuria, he beats him as fast as Conor McGregor beat Jose Aldo.
NORA: Thirteen seconds.
DUKE: Thirteen seconds, that's the bar he's setting.
NORA: That's bold, coming off a fifty two second submission of Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329, not a knockout.
DUKE: Different tools, sure, but the swagger's the same.
NORA: And the timing lines up. Fresh off that win, he's right back in position for a massive opportunity.
DUKE: Fans on X are already running wild with that quote.
NORA: Of course it is. And here's the fun part, Pimblett also just revealed there's a fellow UFC fighter who makes his blood boil more than Manchester United does.
DUKE: That's saying something, he's a die hard Liverpool fan.
NORA: He is. So whoever that rival is, there's real heat there, this isn't just a Topuria fantasy matchup he's dreaming up.
DUKE: I love the confidence, I'm fully on board with Paddy no matter who ends up across from him.
NORA: As you should be.
DUKE: Card news. UFC 332 weigh-ins are done in Salt Lake City.
NORA: Natalia Silva and Wang Cong both made weight for the main event, that's the vacant flyweight title Valentina Shevchenko left behind.
DUKE: And this whole thing goes down tomorrow night at the Delta Center, on CBS and Paramount plus.
NORA: The main event is Natalia Silva against Wang Cong, we'll get into that one later, it's our pick of the night.
DUKE: Twenty eight fighters on the card, so there's a lot riding on this weigh-in besides just the top two fights.
NORA: There always is. One blown weight and a whole card shifts.
DUKE: Elsewhere, Marcos Degli already has his UFC debut booked.
NORA: Less than two weeks after he finished Paris Moran on the Contender Series to earn that contract.
DUKE: That's quick turnaround for a prospect, Dana clearly wants him in there while he's hot.
NORA: Makes sense, keep the momentum going before the layoff cools it off.
DUKE: Fighter news. We finally know what happened to Raoni Barcelos.
NORA: Glover Teixeira, who was in his corner at UFC Vegas 121 against Raul Rosas Junior, says it was brain swelling that eventually shut things down.
DUKE: That was a scary scene, he passed out during the main event itself.
NORA: It was. And it's not just Teixeira speaking up, Deiveson Figueiredo relived his own experience with something similar, he called the whole situation, quote, agonizing, end quote.
DUKE: When a former flyweight champion says that hit close to home for him, you know how real that moment was.
NORA: Barcelos's situation underlines just how serious these scares are, this isn't a story that ends when the broadcast cuts away.
DUKE: Hope he's doing alright, we'll keep tabs on that one.
NORA: We will.
DUKE: Smaller story, but a good one, Bobby Green is still going at forty years old.
NORA: At forty, in a division full of guys half his age, that's a career you don't see much anymore. It's a nice reminder the gatekeeper label doesn't apply to everybody who's been around a decade plus.
DUKE: Callouts. Rafael dos Anjos says he's open to finally fighting Conor McGregor.
NORA: But he's not waiting around for it. He specifically said he won't, quote, sit on the sidelines, end quote, the way Michael Chandler did.
DUKE: That's a direct shot at how McGregor strings guys along.
NORA: Rafael dos Anjos is scheduled to compete this Saturday on the preliminary card of UFC 332, and according to reports, this will be his fiftieth career fight. Almost two full seasons out with knee surgeries, and he still wants the biggest fight available. That tells you where his head's at.
DUKE: Respect that, honestly, he's not just angling for a paycheck, he wants the moment.
NORA: Right.
DUKE: Meanwhile Gable Steveson's situation keeps getting worse the more people talk about it.
NORA: Jon Anik is publicly wondering if Steveson even reaches ten fights in the UFC after that twelve second knockout loss to Sean Sharaf at UFC 331.
DUKE: And Joe Rogan's asking whether Jon Jones hyped him up with too much confidence before that fight.
NORA: According to multiple reports, Sean Sharaf is considering retirement after his win over Gable Steveson.
DUKE: We'll dig into that one more in a bit, there's a lot there.
NORA: There is.
DUKE: Dana White also explained why Josh Hokit is getting the heavyweight title shot against Ciryl Gane at UFC 334.
NORA: Gane got bumped up from interim to undisputed champ once Tom Aspinall vacated, so this is his first official defense of the actual title.
DUKE: That's a weird road to a title shot for Hokit, but Dana laid out his reasoning.
NORA: And one more, Usman Nurmagomedov, the PFL lightweight champ, is now a free agent and he's eyeing a money fight with Arman Tsarukyan.
DUKE: That's a legit cross promotion fantasy fight if the UFC ever lets it happen.
NORA: Tsarukyan's right in the title mix, so there's actual stakes attached, not just a name drop.
DUKE: Business. Dana White and Eddie Hearn are still going at it.
NORA: White called Hearn, quote, delusional, end quote, after the UFC 332 press conference.
DUKE: And Hearn didn't just fire back with words, he dunked on White with actual video receipts.
NORA: Hearn's also blaming White's arrogance for how nasty things got ahead of Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua, saying, quote, they're control freaks, end quote.
DUKE: Two promoters who both think they run boxing and combat sports, that's never going to be a quiet feud.
NORA: No chance. This one keeps rolling every time they're both in front of a microphone.
DUKE: Over in Riyadh, PFL MENA eleven is underway with tournament spots on the line.
NORA: PFL MENA boss Jerome Mazet's been talking up the Saudi MMA boom, and there's a rivalry in that bracket that's been building for almost ten years.
DUKE: That region's clearly not slowing down as a player in this sport.
NORA: Not even close, the investment's only growing.
DUKE: Looking ahead, UFC Fight Night on October 10th has Brendan Allen against Christian Leroy Duncan.
NORA: Then October 17th, Mike Malott takes on Joaquin Buckley.
DUKE: Busy stretch coming up, no breathing room between now and Volkanovski versus Evloev later in the month.
NORA: None at all.
DUKE: Alright, give me the pick for tomorrow. Natalia Silva versus Wang Cong.
NORA: We've got Natalia Silva.
DUKE: At eighty six percent.
NORA: And the betting line's basically right there too, maybe a hair under it, so this one's not a value play, it's just the chalk.
DUKE: So why even bother saying it out loud then?
NORA: Because the reasons behind it matter. Silva's got a real height and reach advantage, and in the striking exchanges that's going to show up big.
DUKE: Wang Cong's a legend, but she's not exactly sneaking up on anybody with surprise length.
NORA: Right, and her form's a concern too, recent losses and a layoff, where Silva's still undefeated.
DUKE: Undefeated, but she hasn't exactly faced top tier competition yet either.
NORA: That's fair, that's the one caveat. Activity's the other piece, Wang Cong's had a tough camp and been inactive, Silva's had opponents pull out on her but she's healthy now.
DUKE: So it's youth, length, and a cleaner camp against a legend who's been through a rough stretch.
NORA: That's the read. Silva, Natalia Silva, that's our pick tomorrow night.
DUKE: Okay, back to Gable Steveson for a second, because I can't stop thinking about this.
NORA: Go for it.
DUKE: Jon Anik's literally asking, quote, how do you regroup, end quote, after a loss like that.
NORA: Twelve seconds, Duke. Twelve seconds against Sean Sharaf.
DUKE: I know.
NORA: And it's not like Steveson's some rookie with time to burn and figure it out quietly.
DUKE: Right, he came in with the Olympic resume, the Jon Jones cosign, the whole buildup. And the wild part is even Sharaf, the guy who won, is talking retirement.
NORA: He asked himself, quote, can I beat that, end quote.
DUKE: Can you blame him? Knocking out an Olympic gold medalist in twelve seconds, where do you go from there?
NORA: Nowhere higher, probably. Either way, Steveson's camp has real work to do before fight number two.
DUKE: Big test of fight IQ and ego management for both of these guys honestly, not just one.
NORA: Completely different problems, same spotlight.
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