There was a special feel to Paddy Pimblett’s victory at UFC Fight
Night 204 at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday.
While it was only the second Octagon appearance for the former Cage
Warriors title holder, and he was facing a relatively unheralded
foe in Rodrigo Vargas, Paddy “The Baddy” electrified the crowd in
his home country with a rear-naked choke victory at the 3:49 mark
of Round 1 in a featured lightweight bout. Pimblett is now 2-0 in
the UFC, and it feels as though he might be someone the promotion
would be willing to throw its marketing might behind.
“Without being a big-headed tool, I am the star of the show,”
Pimblett said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It’s that
simple.Expect me to take over the show. I told you this. This is
the ‘Baddy’ show. Swept The O2 right up.”
The performance would seemingly set the stage for a future clash
with Ilia Topuria, who authored a scintillating knockout of Jai
Herbert at 155 pounds on the main card. Pimblett and Topuria
engaged in a brief altercation at the UFC host hotel in London
during fight week, which could help to build some hype for a
hypothetical bout between the two. Pimblett, however, says Topuria
should take a number.
“Everyone wants to fight me,” Pimblett said. “Everyone wants to
hang on my coattails. No one knew who hand sanitizer boy was until
he tried to start an altercation with me. No one knew who he was.
I’m the draw. Everyone wants to fight me.”
Topuria floored Herbert with a wicked right hook for his third
consecutive finish in UFC competition. The 25-year-old “El Matador”
normally competes at featherweight, and already has a more notable
track record than Pimblett, but the brash Englishman was mostly
dismissive of the man he nearly came to blows with a few days
prior.
Give him his due, it was a good knockout,” Pimblett said. “It was a
very good knockout, especially after taking that head kick in the
first round. But if I hit him with that head kick, I would finish
him.
“But as I say, he’s just hand sanitizer boy to me. A lion doesn’t
concern himself with the opinions of sheep.”
Topuria himself acknowledged that it’s highly unlikely that
Pimblett would accept a fight with him anytime in the near
future.
“Never,” Topuria said. “Never ever, I don’t think so. Maybe if Dana
stayed with him with a gun, maybe yes, and they force him to go
inside the cage with me. Maybe. Otherwise, I don’t think so. I
don’t think he has the balls to fight me.
“With Paddy, I don’t give a f—k about any weight class. Even if he
want to come and don’t make the weight, I’m gonna fight him. I
don’t care about the weight with Paddy.”
In reality, it’s quite possible that the UFC continues to give
Pimblett a soft matchmaking touch as the promotion continues to try
and build his star. Topuria would be a significant step up in
competition that could throw a monkey wrench into that process. For
his part, Pimblett isn’t interested in facing ranked opponents
until his contract reflects that standing.
“I wouldn’t take a top 15 fight,” Pimblett said. “I’ll be honest, I
wouldn’t. Add some more zeroes to my contract and then I will. I
think I proved tonight that I deserve a new contract. Not this
little standard one.”