After a brief fumble on who exactly he would be fighting next care of Dana White, Paddy Pimblett’s second UFC assignment is official.
Pimblett will face Rodrigo Vargas at UFC London on March 19, promotion officials announced Thursday. MMA Fight Club was first to report the pairing. That’s after Dana White appeared on a Barstool Sports segment to declare that Pimblett would be facing Jared Gordon.
Managers for both fighters later disputed White’s claim. No explanation was ever given for the mix-up, but it looks like Vargas is in fact next for “Paddy the Baddy.”
Pimblett (17-3), a former Cage Warriors featherweight champion, made his octagon debut last September, finishing Luigi Vendramini with strikes to earn a Performance of the Night bonus in the process. That win extended Pimblett’s winning streak to three straight.
The English fighter with a brash, over-the-top personality looks poised to be a potential star if he continues his winning ways.
Vargas (12-4) dropped his first two appearances in the UFC. But he bounced back in his last outing, defeating Zhu Rong by unanimous decision. “Kazula” previously competed as a welterweight; the Combate Americas alum moved to lightweight in 2016.
UFC London is set to take place on March 19, 2022 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The event is headlined by a heavyweight scrap between Alexander Volkov and Britain’s own Tom Aspinall. The following bouts have been reported thus far:
- Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
- Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
- Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
- Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
- Muhammad Mokaev vs Cody Durden
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
- Sergei Pavlovich vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
- Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
- Gunnar Nelson vs. Cláudio Silva
- Cory McKenna vs. Elise Reed
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Liudvik Sholinian
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Rodrigo Vargas
