Tag: Cage Warriors

Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion, Paddy Pimblett finally made his long-awaited leap to the UFC last month, and currently riding a two-fight winning streak, he hopes to make his promotional bow before the close of this summer.

Linked with a move to the Dana White-led organization ever since he assumed the Cage Warriors 145-pound throne back in September of 2016, Pimblett repeatedly knocked back reported offers from the promotion in order to score more experience under the Graham Boylan-led banner. 

Inking a multi-fight deal with the North American-based promotion in March, Pimblett had predicted a quickfire win over Davide Martinez at Cage Warriors 122 as part of their Trilogy of events in March, before he would finally put pen to paper on a UFC contract.

Following through with his prediction, the Liverpool native managed to stop Italy’s, Martinez with a rear-naked choke win, with just over a minute and a half elapsed in the opening frame of their March showdown. The victory marked Pimblett’s second consecutively, following a March 2020 Cage Warriors 113 knockout win over Decky Dalton.

Speaking with LowKick MMA reporter, Jordan Ellis recently, Pimblett explained that he hopes to have made his debut Octagon walk by “late July or August” this year.

“No inkling in the slightest,” Pimblett replied when asked by Ellis when he could possibly be making his UFC bow. “I reckon it could be around, late July, (or) August something like that.“

Despite the timeline appearing to limit his activity for this year, at least, Pimblett still maintains that he hopes to secure two, if not three fights before the end of the annum.

“I do wanna get one (fight) in this summer,” Pimblett explained. “I wanna try to get two or three fights in before the end of the year. I wanna try and fight in quick succession when I have my first fight.“

As far as a landing pad for his debut goes, Pimblett doesn’t expect a U.K. homecoming for the UFC until crowds can attend, but he earmarked a probable United States debut, before claiming he’d like the opportunity to feature on ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

“I’m expecting it (the debut) to not be in the U.K. like, to be honest,” Pimblett said. “I don’t think they (the UFC) will come to the U.K. until we have crowds. So I’m expecting it to be in — I think they’ll probably want me on a show where there’s a crowd. So I’m expecting it to be America, to be honest. But I’d love it to be ‘Fight Island’, lad. ‘Fight Island’ would be boss.“

Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion, Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett has penned a multi-fight deal with the UFC, amid a twelve-fight stay with the leading European organization.

The Liverpool native, who holds a 16-3 professional record scored his second consecutive victory at Cage Warriors 122 two weeks ago at the promotion’s trilogy event — stopping Italy’s Davide Martinez with a first round rear-naked choke in a rescheduled matchup. The victory followed a first round knockout win over Decky Dalton in March of last year.

Speculation began to mount that Pimblett had finally penned a deal with the UFC after years of pursuing when the name ‘Paddy The Baddy’ appeared in the official UFC fan rankings pool last week. (H/T Tom Feely). As per MMA Fighting reporter, Guilherme Cruz, Pimblett has officially penned a deal with the organization. On Monday afternoon, the UFC officially confirmed Pimblett’s arrival.

“Cage Warriors?! Completed it, mate! Welcome to the UFC, @PaddyTheBaddy!“

A former featherweight champion under the Cage Warriors banner, Pimblett assumed the vacant throne via a first round knockout at Cage Warriors 78 in September of 2016 against Johnny Frachey. In his sole successful title defence, the Liverpudlian managed a unanimous decision win over current UFC feature, Julian Erosa.

Dropping the championship in a controversial decision, Pimblett suffered his second professional loss at Cage Warriors 82 in April of 2017 against four-fight Octagon veteran, Nad Narimani — who made his transition to the UFC following his win over Pimblett. Briefly returning to winning-ways, the 26-year-old took home a second round triangle armbar win over Alexis Savvidis, prior to a unanimous decision defeat to current Bellator lightweight, Soren Bak. 

From his sixteen professional victories, Pimblett has managed to lodge four knockout wins and a further eight submissions, including triumphs over the likes of Martin Sheridan, Kevin Petshi, Ashleigh Grimshaw, Teddy Violet, as well as the above-mentioned quarter of Frachey, Erosa, Dalton, and Martinez. 

As of writing, a potential debut opponent or date and event has yet to be determined for Pimblett’s long-awaited debut appearance under the promotion’s banner.