Mark Madsen has his sights set on a lightweight matchup with Paddy Pimblett.
Undefeated UFC lightweight Mark Madsen has walked back his previous comments about Paddy Pimblett after watching “The Baddy” submit Jordan Leavitt with a rear-naked choke at UFC London on Saturday.
Madsen (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) initially dismissed Pimblett’s wrestling and picked Leavitt to derail his hype train with a submission victory at UFC Fight Night 208.
But Madsen admits he was impressed with how Pimblett (21-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) handled himself on the ground and says “the hype is real” for the man many have compared to Conor McGregor.
With that said, “The Olympian” still believes he is a bad matchup for Pimblett, telling Vegas Insider “there’s a good chance” he would knock Paddy out.
“He looked good this Saturday and I mean, stepping into an arena like the one he stepped into with all the support and still being able to perform. He looked amazing and his performance was actually decent,” Madsen, an Olympic silver medalist, said of Pimblett. “With that being said, I do believe I will beat Paddy ‘the Baddy’ any day of the week. I will out-wrestle him, I will out-grapple him, and the way he’s keeping his chin high, there’s a good chance of knocking him out as well.”
“The hype is real,” he added. “He showed everybody this Saturday that he is a good fighter. I like Paddy ‘the Baddy’. But at the same time, I do believe that I am able to beat him any day of the week. That being said, Paddy is 3-0 now in the UFC and I’m 4-0, so I think it would be a great matchup, having Paddy the Baddy tested against a real olympian. Let’s see what he got.”
Madsen last fought at UFC 273, where he defeated Vinc Pinchel via unanimous decision. The Dane has won all but one of his UFC fights via decision. By contrast, Pimblett has won every fight in the UFC via stoppage and has gone to a decision just four times in his MMA career overall.