UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett was screaming for his “Fight of the Night” bonus after scoring a controversial decision victory over Jared Gordon at UFC 282 last weekend in Las Vegas. It appears the only person to agree with “The Baddy” was Barstool boss Dave Portnoy, who echoed the sentiment on his official Twitter account.
Have a look:
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT pic.twitter.com/IbNCh3TuSx
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 11, 2022
“This makes the Barstool guys look really bad,” UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje wrote on Twitter. “Just bending over for the lad. Fight of the night? Barstool can give him 50k but that performance will never get you a bonus in the Octagon.”
Pimblett lists himself as a “Barstool Sports sponsored athlete” on Instagram.
“People are telling me Justin Gaethje was recently seen hanging out with a warlord accused of brutal crimes against humanity so its hypocritical for him to say we look bad for supporting Paddy when he supports a warlord,” Portnoy fired back. “I’m gonna take the high road and not mention it.”
I guess the driveway to the Barstool high road is paved with mentioning it?
Portnoy was referencing the social media criticism Gaethje and some of his fellow UFC fighters faced for traveling overseas to mingle with Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, a Dominance MMA tradition that dates back several years (and several champions).
Gaethje called the accusations “an outright lie and slander.”
“A quick recap of tonight’s exchange with Justin Gaethje,” Portnoy continued. “He talks shit about me for supporting Paddy. I respond by saying it may be hypocritical to throw stones when people are saying he hung around with a brutal dictator a few weeks ago. He threatens to beat me up.”
Maybe they can settle their score next month on TBS?