Paddy Pimblett is ready for his opportunity to break into the Top 15 of the UFC lightweight division.
“The Baddy” joined the UFC in 2021 following a successful career in Cage Warriors that included a run as the promotion’s featherweight champion. Pimblett has already gone 4-0 in the world’s leading MMA promotion, and now he’s set for the biggest matchup of his career when he takes on a former interim UFC titleholder in Tony Ferguson.
The highly-anticipated lightweight matchup will feature as part of the main card of UFC 296, but even though Ferguson is a big name Pimblett doesn’t expect that a win over “El Cucuy” will be enough to break into the lightweight rankings.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t see [myself] getting put in the Top 15 after I win against Tony,” Pimblett explained on the Energized Show. “I’ll be perfectly honest. Bobby Green didn't, and Bobby Green fought and beat him before I did.”
Bobby “King” Green met Ferguson at UFC 291 in July and submitted the 39-year-old with just seconds remaining in the final round of their fight. That loss was Ferguson’s sixth in a row and marked the third-straight time that he’s been finished.
Pimblett obviously can’t look past Ferguson even with the former champion’s current skid, but “The Baddy” has already spent some time thinking about his next matchup after UFC 296.
“[I] could see me fighting someone like that. Bobby Green, Grant Dawson, someone like that to get in the rankings. That’s what I can see after I beat Tony. Especially if the big fella Conor [McGregor's] coming back at UFC 300. The missus will be due a couple of weeks after that, so it’d be nice to get another fight in, get another payday in before the twins are due.”
The current UFC schedule is only planned out as far as UFC 299 in March, but there’s been plenty of talk this year about what the promotion may have planned for UFC 300 and if that event may finally see Conor McGregor make his long-awaited return to the Octagon.
Pimblett did draw quite a bit of criticism for a controversial decision win over Jared Gordon in his last fight, but a victory over a former interim champion at UFC 296 could set "The Baddy" up for some big opportunities heading into next year.
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