LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 19: Paddy Pimblett celebrates defeating Kazula Vargas during UFC Fight Night: Volkov v Aspinall at the The O2 Arena on March 19, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Paddy Pimblett won his second UFC fight and got a lot of people talking
Dana White finally recognises Paddy Pimblett for the star that the Liverpudlian is. Pimblett was in his second UFC outing and secured a brilliant rear-naked choke win over Rodrigo Vargas.
The 27-year-old has been compared with Conor McGregor for his mannerisms and it seems his fighting skills aren’t all that bad either.
Pimblett was backed by a vociferous crowd at the O2 Arena in London. He spoke a lot about what it would mean to fight in Liverpool, and all of this seems to have gotten White interested in the 27-year-old.
White was speaking after the event and said (h/t MMA Fighting):
“This week I was getting tired of hearing, ‘Oh, wait til you see his walkout, wait til you see this and that.’ I was like, I want to see him fight. He needs to win, you know?” White said at the UFC London post-fight press conference. “But he did, and he did spectacularly. And when he was in trouble, he came back and he turned the fight around and won.
“I’ll give you an example: On my Instagram, I posted the faceoffs yesterday for the heavyweight fight [Aspinall vs. Volkov]. Did 120,000 views. Paddy’s faceoff did 1.3 million. So all the talk going into the fight about his walkout and all this s***, listen, it’s real. This kid’s got a ton of hype behind him and tonight he showed everybody that he’s the real deal.”
One thing that Pimblett brought up was headlining his own event. White wasn’t averse to that option but it seems the British star needs some more wins before that happens.
There are quite a few big names in the UFC looking to make it big already. Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev are two of those.
The pair haven’t won any titles yet but are very close to it. Pimblett, for his part, is just two fights young in the UFC, and it will be interesting to see what is next for him.
The 27-year-old has a long way to go in his career, but if he keeps performing like this, he certainly will become one of the biggest stars in the MMA world.
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