“Stop with this ‘I’m the new cash cow’ sh-t.”
Michael Bisping thinks Paddy Pimblett is in desperate need of a reality check following his latest win over Jared Gordon.
Although Pimblett won the fight, most MMA media outlets scored the bout in favor of Gordon, who has requested an immediate rematch. Pimblett, however, acted as if he dominated the fight, leading to widespread backlash.
In addition to that, “The Baddy” also sparked a feud with Ariel Helwani when he suggested that Helwani and other MMA journalists should pay him for interviews.
In light of recent events, Bisping advised Pimblett to adopt a more humble approach in the future, suggesting the Liverpudlian should get a win over a ranked opponent before he starts declaring himself “the new cash cow” of the UFC.
“Some of the way he handled it afterwards wasn’t the best,” Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast (h/t Jed Meshew). “I can’t talk s***, because I did a similar thing myself, back in the day. I’ve literally been in that position, 15 years ago. You’re young, you get a lot of attention, maybe a bit of it goes to your head a little bit, and you start to think to a certain degree that your s*** doesn’t stink. Your s*** still stinks. Everyone’s does. It doesn’t matter how big you get, because the court of public opinion will bring you back down to Earth pretty f****** quickly, and that’s what he experienced there.
“I think what Paddy needs to do is just humble himself a little bit. Stop with this ‘I’m the new cash cow’ s***. When I asked him who would he want to fight next, ‘I don’t need to say anyone’s name because I am the man. I’m the boy, I’m the cash cow,’ and you’re yet to fight someone ranked. When you’re dominating people, that’s all well and good. When you’re scraping by a victory, it doesn’t have the same effect, and it starts to rub people off the wrong way.
“Nobody in the top 10, certainly in the top five, needs Paddy to give them a rub. Dustin Poirier, Islam Makhachev, Charles Oliveira, these are household names in mixed martial arts. They don’t need Paddy to say their name to get a few Instagram followers. The whole ‘pay me for interviews’ thing, I think that left a bad taste in people’s mouths. Again, I’m not hating. I’m just being honest in what I saw.”
Despite a rough week, Pimblett remains one of the fastest-growing stars in the UFC, boasting over 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 811,000 subscribers on YouTube. He is expected to return to the Octagon in the coming year, possibly at UFC 286 in London.