Paddy Pimblett Might “Turn His Back” on the UFC: Dana White Fired a Massive Warning

UFC London was a historic night for the promotion. This is majorly because of the pay stubs that the winners earned, as well as the people in attendance ever since the pandemic. One of the main highlights of the night was Paddy Pimblett winning over Rodrigo Vargas with a second-round submission.

His accent and overall talk in the UFC’s media junkets have made people draw comparisons between him and UFC superstar Conor McGregor. The talk also naturally entails the aspect of him garnering as much success as the Irishman accomplished. 

In the post-fight interview of UFC: London, Pimblett talked about the fight, being in the O2 arena with his home fans, and what the future holds for him with the UFC. Following this, however, former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen had a few things to say about how Pimblett’s future in the UFC is to be handled.

Paddy Pimblett: Possibly biting off more than he can chew 

When the interviewer asked Sonnen what he would do to manage Pimblett’s expectations if he were Dana White, this is what he had to say. “All right look. Dana’s gonna have to sit down and put this kid’s pants on… This is the only thing that bothers me, he said ‘I am not going to fight top guys. I’m not going to fight anybody tough for the contract, I’m on now. You want me to get, do harder fights, give me more money.'” 

He continued, “The only reason I resist is you’re trying. Look there’s politics here partner. You and I aren’t going to put a guy over that we think might turn his back on the organization suit. We want guys that really want to be in this to be champion…” 

Talking about Dana White’s perspective, he stated, “Dana is going to need to sit him down and say ‘Look. Here’s what I do. I bring a whole bunch of attention; I give you a beautiful platform to go out and showcase the skills that you’ve worked so hard to have on the other side of the coin.”

“If you’re telling me you don’t want it, tell me now before we get too deep. I don’t want to start disrupting the division. There’s other boys that want the same dream that are working just as hard as you.'” 

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Chael Sonnen aims to propagate that Dana White will do whatever is in the company’s best interest. In comparison to Conor McGregor, whom people draw a lot of similarities to towards Pimblett, the Irishman yearned for a top 5 fighter from the start. 

The next move for Pimblett and the UFC 

Pimblett, on the other hand, has already stated that he wishes to fight the higher competition, only when and if the UFC offers him a new contract. 

From Sonnen’s perspective, Dana White will very likely deny this demand from Pimblett. This is because the organization’s politics will always come first. 

Now that things have been said and fights have been won, the question that remains is, what’s next for Paddy Pimblett? ‘The Baddy’ clearly stated his demands to the organization and is awaiting the UFC’s next move. 

Pimblett has the following and the charisma to make big fights and big paychecks. However, his tenacity to get rocked during fights reflects poorly on him. Coming close to getting knocked out, puts a person in a position of weakness. This is regardless of whether they won the fight or not.

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Ilia Topuria, who had a recent scuffle with Pimblett, called the ‘Liverpool Scouser’ out after the former’s win against Jai Herbert in a lightweight bout. If the UFC denies Pimblett for a better contract, the Scouser will most likely end up fighting Topuria. Topuria is currently ranked #15 in the lightweight division.