Pimblett is excited to show off how he’s a completely different fighter after a year away from the cage.
Paddy Pimblett is set to make his long-awaited return to the octagon on December 16th at UFC 296 against Tony Ferguson. It’s an extremely tough fight … or a total cakewalk, depending on who you ask. Fans can’t seem to decide who’s getting fed to who.
Either way, “The Baddy” showed some respect to “El Cucuy” in a recent interview with The Schmo.
“Yeah, ‘The Boogeyman,’ lad, it’s an honor to share the cage with him, to be honest,” Pimblett said. “Someone who’s had a 12 fight win streak in the lightweight division, that’ll probably never get matched again. It’s an honor to get in the cage, can’t wait to fight, can’t wait to shut a lot of doubters up and prove all my fans right.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people talking s— about the fight, you know what I mean?” he said about reaction to the booking. “It’s quite annoying cuz a couple of weeks ago before this fight got announced, I was the worst lightweight in the UFC. I was s—, I was the worst in the division. And then as soon as me vs. Tony gets called it’s like, ‘Oh, they’re feeding Tony to the wolves.’”
“How can the worst in the division be a wolf? Use your own logic, you gang of gobs—es … stop contradicting yourselves and sort your facts out, you gang of bums. F— them. Have you been in here watching me train? All you helmets on podcasts and f—ers sitting in front of your cameras talking s—e. F—ing suck a— gang of bums.”
So to say Pimblett is fired up coming into this fight would be an understatement. He clearly has a chip on his shoulder, because he hasn’t spent his whole time between camp eating chips. Paddy is infamous for becoming “The Fatty” after a win, but this time he’s kept his weight down. It’s all part of a new mentality he’ll debut at UFC 296.
“I’ve got a statement to make, it’s been a while since I’ve had so long outside the cage,” he said. “By the time I fight I’ll have over a year out of the cage. The amount of training I’ve done to get better and I’m just a different fighter. It’s gonna be the Baddy 2.0, a new mythical fighter is going to get unlocked.”
And will this new Baddy be championship material?
“I f—ing hope so. I want to be the champ, lad, of course, it goes without saying,” he said. “Can’t get ahead of me self, especially after my last performance. All I’m thinking about now is coming out and finishing Tony Ferguson in the first round. Make a statement, let everyone know what they were missing, and then I’ll start looking at ranked opponents in the UFC.”