Renato
Carneiro believes Paddy
Pimblett is deserving of at least “some respect.”
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Carneiro is slated to headline
UFC Fight Night 243 against Frenchman Benoit St.
Denis at the Accor Arena in Paris on Saturday. The Brazilian
recently revealed that the two most prominent potential opponents
in his mind going forward are Pimblett and Dan
Hooker.
Pimblett has consistently expressed interest in fighting “Moicano,”
regardless of the outcome the latter’s clash against St. Denis.
Meanwhile, Carneiro first called out Hooker after “The Hangman” and
Israel
Adesanya picked Jalin
Turner to beat “Moicano” at UFC
300. Carneiro made “The Tarantula” pay for a failed walk-off KO
attempt, coming from behind to submit him in the second stanza.
While Hooker had agreed to fight Carneiro, the Kiwi ended up
fighting Mateusz
Gamrot at UFC 305
this past August, earning an upset split-decision win. However,
Carneiro didn’t see Hooker winning that fight. “Moicano” is more
impressed by Pimblett’s latest submission win over Bobby Green
at UFC 304
this past July.
“I am very impressed. I think after the Bobby Green fight, Paddy
Pimblett is a tougher matchup than Dan Hooker,” Carneiro told
MMAFighting.com. “Back in the day, I would be
crazy to say that, but right now, we saw what Dan Hooker did to
Mateusz Gamrot. He got caught many, many times in the first round.
And it was a close fight. I don’t think he did win, but if you see
the way Paddy Pimblett finished Bobby Green, and Bobby Green is not
an easy guy to submit. And the way he did so, props to Paddy
Pimblett. I was one of the doubters. But he did great, he did a
great job against Bobby Green. And he deserves some respect. Not
much, but some respect.”