Paddy Pimblett is looking shredded ahead of his long-awaited return to the Octagon.
A year removed from his controversial unanimous decision win over Jared Gordon last December, ‘The Baddy’ will gun for his seventh-straight win at UFC 296 on December 16. Standing in his way will be former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, who enters the bout with six straight losses.
Fans have not seen Pimblett in action for the past year, but the Liverpudlian appears to be in impeccable shape, as seen in a brief video shared on the lightweight standout’s Instagram.
Since making his promotional debut in 2021, Paddy Pimblett has become infamous for his insane post-fight food binges that have seen him consume 8,000 calories per day and gaining upwards of 50 pounds between fights. Perhaps even more impressive than the food he could pack away was his uncanny ability to work it off in such a short period of time.
Paddy's weight cuts are DIFFERENT
(via @theufcbaddy) pic.twitter.com/ErOVYZ1r6F
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 25, 2022
Paddy Pimblett’s Legendary Eating Binges are over
Having spent the last 12 months recovering from a foot injury sustained during his last fight, Pimblett has seemingly skipped out on his famous pig-out sessions for the most part, making his weight cut going into UFC 296 a much more streamlined experience.
In an interview with SLOTHBOXX, Pimblett indicated that his days of eating an exorbitant amount of food following a big fight are largely over.
“People keep asking me, ‘Are you fighting?’ because I’m not that fat at the minute,” Pimblett said. “They say, ‘You must have a fight coming up, you lad, because you’re normally well fatter than this.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, lad. I’m just not that fat at the minute.’ People keep saying to me, ‘Lad, you’re not that heavy. You must have a fight coming up.’ I haven’t. As I’ve said before, I’ve got an eating disorder when I’m fighting, when I’m cutting weight and dieting.
“After a fight, I’ve got a bad eating disorder. At the minute, I’m not too bad because obviously I had surgery. I went to America and got fat again, then came back and had surgery. And after the surgery, my weight has just gradually come down. Now I’m just walking around at about (185 pounds) and not really watching what I’m eating. I’m just hobbling around at that weight, which is nice. I’ve plateaued around this weight. Hopefully I’ll never go above (200 pounds) again” (h/t MMA Junkie).