Lightweight star Paddy Pimblett picked up his fourth straight UFC win on Saturday night at UFC 282 against veteran Jared Gordon. The Liverpool native won the bout via unanimous decision, which many aren’t agreeing with.
“Paddy the Baddy,” of course, thinks otherwise. But as he told reporters during his post-event scrum, it’s all justified based on how he thinks fights are scored nowadays.
“Look at his face and look at mine. Fights are scored on damage now.”
UFC president Dana White was critical of Gordon’s performance, particularly in the final round where he thinks the latter put his foot off the gas pedal out of complacency. Pimblett admitted to doing the same thing but agrees with White’s assessment of Gordon’s game plan.
“I coulda pushed it more in that third round, but I coasted a bit. Thought I’m two rounds up, I coasted a bit, especially with the ankle. It’s me own silly fault, I shouldn’t have coasted in the third round.
“(Gordon) should’ve tried to stay standing with me because me ankle was pretty compromised in the third round. I was worried about me ankle.
“So because of that, I think if he woulda tried to strike with me a bit more, he woulda caught me more ‘cause I couldn’t move properly. Me foot wasn’t a hundred percent. So I think if he woulda stayed striking, he would’ve had a lot more success, ‘cause me mobility was a little bit stuck. I would’ve been stuck in the mud.
“When he started pushing me against the cage, I was like, ‘Let’s chill.’ And then, I was landing more significant strikes with me back against the cage. I think he landed three or four significant strikes in the third round. I was landing knees to the body, knees to the face, little elbows, little punches.”
Pimblett also said in a separate interview that he was upset at people thinking he lost.
“I’m a nice guy, why does everyone hate me?” Pimblett said about the reaction to the decision.
“I’m pretty pissed off to be honest, that Joe Rogan came in and said that was a close fight,” Pimblett said. “It wasn’t a split decision, it was a unanimous decision, so I’m pretty pissed off that people thought I lost, it’s annoying me. It’s annoying me a lot.
“Anyone who thinks I lost that can go eat me a—hole.”
Post-fight interview with Paddy Pimblett.
Pimblett: “It wasn’t a split decision, it was a unanimous decision, so I’m pretty pissed off that people thought I lost, it’s annoying me. It’s annoying me a lot.” pic.twitter.com/JSgYyyL3yy
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 11, 2022
For what it’s worth, MMA Decisions compiled scorecards which had 24 of the 25 members of the media all scoring it for Gordon.
With his UFC 282 win, Pimblett’s record now improves to 20-3.
