“I enjoy getting punched and punching people in the face. It sounds very weird, but I enjoy it.”
Paddy Pimblett is one hell of a talent, but the Brit can sometimes get a tad reckless, leaving himself vulnerable to attack.
But not to worry, as ‘The Baddy’ quite enjoys ‘getting punched in the face’ for a living even though he knows he could fight more intelligently, especially in his most recent outing against Jordan Leavitt.
Pimblett (19-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) beat Leavitt (10-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) via submission but admits he was disappointed with his performance because he let his emotions get the better of him on fight night.
The Next Generation MMA talent knows he needs to fight smarter but isn’t sure he actually wants to, as he enjoys getting into a good scrap despite the risks it poses to his career.
“I was disappointed in my performance, I felt like I should have went out there and blasted him out in a round,” Pimblett said on The Pat McAfee show (h/t MMA Fighting). “I know I still finished him, finished someone that’s never been finished before. He’s had 11 pro fights, lost one, and never been finished and I choked his ass. He got dealt with like I knew he was going to get dealt with. I said the whole time he’s going to get finished, I thought it was going to be a knockout but he defends punches well, it’s quite weird. He doesn’t like to defend them in a skillful way, but he defends them well and then he just grabs a hold of you.”
“But I think I won the first round on all judges’ scorecards and then got the finish in the second, so I’m not too fussed. Obviously, when I look back now I realize I was being very emotional going into the fight. I watched it back today and every punch I throw I’m trying to take his head off. I didn’t throw a punch where I’m trying to set a shot up, I’m just walking forward throwing punches.”
“I can fight like that every time,” he added. “I’m a big, fat bastard at the minute, but if someone rang me now and said, ‘Get outside for a straightener,’ I’d be out there beating them up. I enjoy getting punched and punching people in the face. It sounds very weird, but I enjoy it.”
Pimblett beat Leavitt to extend his UFC winning streak to 3-0, with previous stoppage victories over Brazil’s Luigi Vendramini and Mexico’s Rodrigo Vargas. He is one of the fastest-growing stars in the sport and hopes one day to surpass Conor McGregor as the biggest ‘cash cow’ in the UFC.