Paddy Pimblett was already a hugely popular fighter heading into UFC 329, but his stunning performance coupled with Conor McGregor’s comeback ending in disaster, arguably vaulted “The Baddy” into superstar status with his win.
While McGregor’s fight lasted just 69 seconds after he blew out his knee, Pimblett dispatched Saint Denis in less time with a modified D’arce choke and the crowd erupted at both his walkout and his celebration in victory. Pimblett undoubtedly took a huge step forward in his career with that kind of performance, especially with huge viewership numbers for the event with so many people tuning in to watch McGregor’s return to action.
“Paddy stole the show. 100%,” UFC legend Matt Brown said about his performance on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “That was his night. Good for him. He lived up to the expectations. Amazing submission on BSD.
“Paddy’s done all the right things. He’s saying all the right things. He’s doing all the right things. He deserves everything that he gets.”
There’s no telling what would have happened if McGregor didn’t suffer a devastating knee injury, but he was a sizable underdog going into his fight against Max Holloway. Even if he didn’t get injured, McGregor’s night could have still very easily ended in defeat.
But Pimblett didn’t even have to face the Irish superstar to benefit from his presence as the main event for the same card. In fact, Brown sees a lot of similarities in how McGregor first came to fame in the UFC and now Pimblett is following the same blueprint.
“I watched, it came on randomly on Instagram, it was a little thing Bill Burr was saying about comedians,” Brown explained. “He said the way to make it as a comedian is you go out there open up for other guys and you f*cking kill it, so much that the main event guy doesn’t have a chance, and they bomb because you did so well. It just rung in my mind, that was exactly what Paddy did. He stole the f*cking show, it was his night. Conor bombed and you’ve got to give it to Paddy. He f*cking did it right.
“Everybody is singing his song and dancing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. Everybody was loving the energy, the excitement and then he f*cking got it done the way he got it done. It’s just lightning in a bottle. It feels like Conor McGregor back in his day.”
Of course, McGregor still had plenty of doubters as he climbed up the ranks in the featherweight division, but he proved the hype was real when he flattened Jose Aldo to become UFC champion for the first time, and then he eventually conquered a second division with a lopsided win over Eddie Alvarez.
That’s where Brown suspects that Pimblett is going to run into problems as he tries to work his way towards another title shot.
Back in January, Pimblett put up a valiant effort but still ultimately lost in a slugfest with Justin Gaethje in an interim lightweight title fight. Now Gaethje is champion, and he’s already said he’s not interesting in running it back with Pimblett any time soon.
Former champion Ilia Topuria is probably the biggest fight possible for Pimblett outside of a title shot but that’s far from an easy matchup for anybody. Toss in a mauling wrestler like Arman Tsarukyan, and a past champion like Charles Oliveira, who is still lingering in the top five rankings, and Pimblett’s path to gold isn’t exactly a cake walk.
“I’ll tell you, I know I’ll take a lot of shit on this but skill wise, I’m still just not sold on Paddy yet,” Brown said. “I hope he proves me wrong. I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer, or a f*cking a**hole over here, but I’m just not sold on him. We’ll see. I hope he proves me wrong.”
While lightweight has always been lauded as the best division in the sport, there are definitely times when it’s been easier to earn a title shot. That’s not the case right now where Pimblett is staring down a number of potentially tough fights to get there plus a past loss to the current champion doesn’t help his cause.
Brown admits he had similar doubts about McGregor during his climb up the ladder, but he suspects Pimblett might run into even more problems as he chases a championship.
“Maybe I have a little bit of pessimism in me or non-belief, maybe more than I should have, but I didn’t believe in Conor either back in the day,” Brown said. “But it kind of feels the same way with Paddy. The difference is we have seen Paddy, he got beat up pretty bad by Justin Gaethje. I think we have a better idea of what his level is. The dude f*cking got it done against BSD. That’s a tough fight, and the way he did was absolutely impressive. Good for him.”
“The tough part for Paddy, I just don’t think he has the ceiling that Conor had. He might do great things. He might totally prove me wrong. Conor was double champ. Do you think Paddy would be double champ, ever? I have a hard time believing that. Star power wise, he certainly felt like he stole the show, and it felt like it was passing of the torch but you’ve got to live up to it, too. You’ve got to do big, amazing things. You’ve got to win a title at least and that’s not looking so great for Paddy right now.”
