Colby Covington 'hint', dream fight - Paddy Pimblett next opponent after Michael Chandler win

The latest UFC news after Paddy Pimblett beat Michael Chandler at UFC 314 in Miami to rise into the top ten of the lightweight rankings with a seventh straight win

Paddy Pimblett beating Michael Chandler in a dominant display that earned a performance of the night bonus at UFC 314 keeps 'The Baddy' on course for a world title fight.

A seventh successive win sees the fighter from Huyton elevated in the lightweight rankings from 12th to take Chandler's spot at seventh. Pimblett called out almost all of those above him inside the octagon afterwards after acknowledging he wants "anyone in the top five, I want that world title".

"I want Dustin [Poirier], Justin [Gaethje], Charles [Oliveira] or the little posh boy, Arman [Tsarukyan]; any of them four. I respect Dustin, Justin and Charles, [but] Charles is the biggest legend out of them all."

Oliveira ranks second behind Tsarukyan and champion Islam Makhachev. The former champ is also someone Pimblett mentioned weeks before Saturday night's fight - hinting he could indeed be the Liverpool-born fighter's dream next opponent.

During an interview with JNMEDIA at Cage Warriors 185 in mid-March, Pimblett looked ahead to the future, acknowledging he will have "probably only two fights this year". "Beat Michael Chandler, fight in Abu Dhabi in October, beat someone like Charles [Oliveira] and then fight for the belt next year."

Gaethje was in attendance at UFC 314, appearing on screens inside Kaseya Center after Pimblett mentioned his name inside the octagon. Colby Covington was also inside the arena in Miami, Florida, interrupting 'The Baddy' during a backstage post-fight interview to instigate a heated exchange.

Both had to be separated as they traded insults. During the post-fight press conference, Pimblett described it as "Mr. Irrelevant trying to stay relevant."

"The f****** whopper. Just come over trying to chat s***, didn't he lad?

"Just because there was a camera, trying to say, 'you fight scrubs.' He said something about Chandler being 2-4 (in his last six fights).

"Isn't he [Covington] 2-4 in his last six? He's an absolute bum lad; he's nearly 40 [he turned 37 in February], trying to stay relevant by jumping on me while there's a camera there - well, just talking s***.

"I saw him at Power Slap the other week staring at him, and he just looked at the floor like the little p**** boy that he is.

"When there's a camera there he tries saying something. He got terrored anyway; we all terrorised him, got told to leg it, got told to button his shirt up the f****** wool."

Covington is currently the ninth-ranked welterweight who has lost three previous title fights after briefly being the interim champion.

He called out Pimblett on Submission Radio late last year, saying if they fought, "he'd never fight again. It'd be the last fight he'd ever had in the octagon.

"I would beat him silly from pillar to post. I'd beat him so bad it'd be one of the worst beatings in UFC history."

However, it remains to be seen exactly who Pimblett will fight next.