Paddy Pimblett is done fighting with his signature shaggy hairstyle.
Over the years, Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett has built up a strange cult of wig-wearing followers, all based on his Liverpool ketwig shag. But what’s going to happen to all of them now that Paddy has switched his fight night hairstyle to cornrows?
Pimblett had a tough task ahead of him at UFC 296: defeat former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, a man who once ruled over the 155 pound division with ferocious violence. “The Baddy” came in leaving nothing to chance: rather than leave his ridiculous mane of hair loose, he had it done in cornrows. He’d go on to win the fight 30-27, and while the hair change wasn’t key to his success, Paddy insists it helped.
“Whenever I used to play Fight Night or the UFC game or anything like that, I’d always put cornrows on my character,” Pimblett said at the post-fight press conference. “But the reason I’ve done it was because I’m sick of getting hit with little punches and left hooks and stuff like that and people be like ‘Oh, he’s rocked! He’s rocked!’ Like, nah, my hair just moved. I’m not rocked at all.’”
“So I think it was a little bit of a tactical one as well because also my hair goes in my eyes, lad. And I’ve got to lift my chin up and I think I’ve done a little bit of a better job keeping my chin down tonight with the cornrows. So … I know I may look like White Boy Rick, but they’re sound.”
Was this a one time thing? Will the Scouser’s classic look return? Or is it cornrows forever for Pimblett?
“Yeah, it’s gonna stay now, I’m gonna have to keep it because me hair doesn’t get in me eyes,” he declared. “When it gets in me eyes, it’s frustrating, I’ll be honest.”
With this win over Tony Ferguson, Pimblett moves to 5-0 in the UFC and 21-3 over his MMA career. “El Cucuy” is the best scalp Paddy has claimed yet. Will he face someone in the lightweight top 15 next? “The Baddy” refused to call out any names, and it will be interesting to see what UFC matchmakers have in mind for their UK star.