Las Vegas — Paddy Pimblett was able to take in the reaction to his walkout at UFC 329, which had more star power on hand thanks to the return of Conor McGregor.
While the night was a flop for McGregor, it was a triumph for Pimblett, who took note of “Mike Tyson, Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, Theo Von all singing and dancing to my song.”
“It was like, there’s no way I can lose here,” Pimblett recalled thinking, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the T-Mobile Arena following the event.
Pimblett called his submission of Benoit Saint-Denis inside of a round on Saturday “a mixture between a D’arce and a Peruvian necktie. That’s just how good my jiu-jitsu is, I can link things like that together flawlessly.” It wasn’t a submission he’d ever hit in the gym, either. “I’ve never done that before, I just done that on the fly. That’s how I roll. My jiu-jitsu’s the best in the world.”
It certainly looked that way on Saturday. BSD never left first-gear, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan later called it one of the best submissions he’d seen. Ranked #6 in the 155lb weight class, Paddy will almost certainly jump up a few spots this week.
Pimblett, despite being one of the biggest active stars on the UFC roster currently, isn’t interested in calling his shot exactly. He has an end goal in mind, and appears willing to fight anyone he has to in order to get to it.
“I want to be a world champion. I want to be undisputed champion of the world. I want to be the first-ever world champion from Liverpool,” the lightweight stated. “And I’m going to do that. I know it’s in my destiny, I know it’s in my fate. Whether it’s the next fight, or the next ten fights, I’m going to be a world champion. It’s that simple.”
And so the list of names Pimblett is willing to face includes all the key players, including to current undisputed champ Justin Gaethje, who Pimblett suffered a decision loss to earlier this year.
“If you want me to fight Justin next, if you want me to fight Posh Boy [Arman Tsarukyan] next, if you want me to fight Chorizo [Ilia Topuria] next, if you want me to fight Charles [Oliveira] next, anyone can get it.”
Watch the full UFC 329 post-fight press conference appearance by Paddy Pimblett above.
