Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett has very quickly become one of the brightest, most popular young stars in the sport of MMA today.
The former Cage Warriors featherweight champion had a sizeable following prior to joining the UFC’s roster last year in 2021.
Since Paddy Pimblett debuted for the organization last September at UFC Vegas 36, the 27-year-old has gone 3-0 with three finishes, improving to 19-3 in the process, where he captured Performance of the Night bonuses in all three victories.
But, if there’s one critique most would have, it’s that Paddy Pimblett doesn’t stay in shape when he’s not training for a fight, ballooning up to nearly 200 lbs in his off seasons.
That hasn’t stopped him from making weight, but it has however been a reason for concern when regarding the English talent from Liverpool.
The latest figure to speak out on this was longtime UFC welterweight staple Matt Brown:
“The biggest thing, the x-factor that we haven’t really talked about is Paddy’s weight problems when he’s not in camp. He’s sitting there glorifying eating pizza and cheeseburgers and shit. We’ve seen the pictures. He gets ridiculously big, and that shows me a lack of discipline. That shows me that most of his (training) camp is really fat camp.
“You can’t live that way, especially in the UFC. You can’t live that way. You’re fighting killers that are training year round, staying on weight, staying ready. You’re fighting fucking lions here, and I think that’s a very, very bad move by Paddy,” Brown stated on The Fighter vs The Writer podcast.
Brown continued: “He might make weight easy. It might not even be a problem making weight (for him). Maybe he didn’t have to spend his whole camp in fat camp or whatever, but you can see right through it and see all the discipline issues that come along with that. There’s no way he’s in there training his balls off everyday.
“He’s not in there pushing himself everyday. He’s not in there testing himself, evolving, that’s the big thing. You’re not evolving. You’re not getting better everyday. Other guys are. So every time they’re getting one-percent better, that’s another day you’re falling behind.”
Do you agree with Matt Brown? Can Paddy Pimblett continue evolving in spite of his lifestyle choices?
Be sure to watch Paddy Pimblett take on Jared Gordon tonight at UFC 282!
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