Paddy Pimblett made a big impression in his UFC debut last night.
After a long wait, and much hype, former Cage Warriors champion Paddy Pimblett made his debut last night at UFC Vegas 36. There the scouser beat Luigi Vendramini by KO to take his overall record to 17-3.
After the fight Pimblett shared his elation at the night’s events with the gathered media. “This is my destiny,” he said (ht MMA Fighting).
“I showed everyone that I can come through adversity as well, because he did catch me with a nice left hook,” Pimblett continued. “I need to stop letting people punch me in the face. I want to put on too much of a show, so I just put my hands down and get into firefights with people. I do it in the gym.
“I can’t help myself. I like fighting. It’s pretty stupid, because it can go wrong, but it didn’t go wrong.”
As for what comes next, ‘The Baddy’ said he wasn’t sure and that he didn’t really care.
“Luigi Vendramini was the fourth name I got put forward to me for this fight. Every other name I got put to me I said yeah. I’ll never say no to a fight. I’m not a bitchass. Whatever name gets put to me on the contract, I’m going to sign it. I don’t care if they’re ranked or not ranked or where they’re from, or where it is, if it’s in their backyard. If it’s in their backyard, everyone will start going sick when I walk out anyway. That’s just what I do.
“But as Dana said … he said honorable mention to Paddy the Daddy. He knows it will be fun going back to England with this kid. … November or December, let’s get a show in England, and let’s blow the roof off.”
Pimblett also added that, in knocking out a UFC calibre opponent, he proved that he is a multi-dimensional fighter.
“People think I’m a grappler, and I’ve just shut everyone up. I can strike. I can grapple. I can wrestle. I’ve got the personality, I’ve got the look. The new king’s here, lad.”
Pimblett’s win last night was part of a mixed-success for the city of Liverpool. Before he took the cage his city-mate Molly McCann won a Fight of the Night performance opposite Yi Jeon Kim. In the night’s main event Liverpudlian Darren Till lost, via submission, to Derek Brunson.