Few could dream of a better UFC debut than Paddy Pimblett. He rode a hype train all the way from Liverpool, England, to Vegas, and knocked his opponent out in round one. He even predicted the result before the fight. Pimblett, however, still ranked his Cage Warriors title victory as a greater achievement than his UFC debut. Why?
He did it in front of a home crowd. Pimblett told The MMA Hour: “Winning that belt in the Echo, that’ll take some beating.”
Paddy Pimblett: CW Belt Meant More than UFC Success… So Far
Pimblett famously won his Cage Warriors title before a packed Echo Arena in his native Liverpool. He has since promised to bring the UFC to Anfield, the hallowed home ground of his boyhood soccer team, Liverpool FC.
Considering his enormous popularity, such an accomplishment may be less far-fetched than it seems. He boasts over half a million online followers, a number that surely will only go up from here. But Pimblett refuses to let this success go to his head.
“I’ve been there before when I won that Cage Warriors belt, people talking about me as the next big thing. I’ve had setbacks before when my head got too big. So I know it’s never going to happen again. Even if I go on a 10-fight win streak, I’m not going to do that.”
Pimblett faced some criticism for eating a massive left hook in the opening minutes of his fight against Vendramini, but he insists that he barely felt the punch. “I’ve been hit with bigger shots than that before.
When I watched it back, the sound of it was boss. It sounded great. The noise sounded like he did hit me with a proper big shot. But as I said, I’ll take them any day of the week.
I knew in my head it was a foregone conclusion, but then I’ll be honest, with there being no crowd, that one shot, everyone just thought he was winning the round for some reason.
You see how many punches and kicks I hit him with? My ankles are proper fat, lad, because I kicked him in the head that many times.”
If Pimblett can maintain his winning ways, and overcome his tendency to eat punches straight to his head, he may well develop into one of the UFC’s biggest stars. With many of the promotion’s current crop ageing out of competition, Pimblett at only 26 years old could be the new face of the promotion.
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