Las Vegas, NV – Making his return after a year away from the octagon UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett detailed his time away as he prepares to face Tony Ferguson at UFC 296.
“When I first got the surgery I was in pain. I couldn’t go upstairs. I was sleeping on the couch downstairs because I couldn’t physically get up the stairs,” Pimblett told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“It was tough. About 6 weeks in finally got the proper cast and stuff off me. Had a boot on. I had to go to the hospital because my foot got infected.”
An ankle injury suffered against Jared Gordon at UFC 282 forced Pimblett to have a surgery to repair the damage.
“I’ve got artificial ligaments now. They said if the infection reaches the ligament we’re going to have to do the whole surgery over again,” Pimblett said.
“Luckily enough the infection hasn’t reached the artificial ligament so I didn’t have to do that over again and here we are.”
Now back in action he takes on Ferguson who is a fan favorite and an MMA legend.
“I’ll never say no to a fight so when his name is on the contract I signed it. The funny thing was there was a fake card going around wasn’t there for UFC 296 with like (Conor) McGregor on and (Sean) O’Malley. And it was me versus Tony,” he said.
“So I was getting asked by everyone, you fighting Tony Ferguson? Literally just 4 weeks later I got a contract with Tony’s name on it.”
Sometimes putting stuff out into the universe makes things happen.
“It’s an honor to be able to fight Tony Ferguson one of the best lightweights of all time. Even I want to see Tony go out on a win, but I can’t let him do it at my expense. Not happening,” said Pimblett.
Watch the entire media day scrum with Paddy Pimblett above. He takes on Tony Feruson at UFC 296.
