The Paddy Pimblett Business Is About To Pick Up After UFC 304

Paddy Pimblett had himself an eventful UFC 304 weekend.

The 29-year-old signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC the day before his UFC 304 fight card matchup against Bobby “King” Green. Pimblett then went out on fight night in Manchester and submitted Green in the first round with a triangle choke that left his opponent unconscious. After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White awarded Pimblett $200,000 in fight-night bonus awards. With his dominant win over Green, Pimblett will also break into the top 15 of the UFC lightweight division when the promotion publishes its updated rankings.

As Pimblett confidently declared in the opening comments of his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Daniel Cormier, “Statement made, b***hes.”

With his victory, Pimblett moved to 6-0 in the UFC.

The former Cage Warriors champion has been a bit of an enigma since he signed with the UFC in 2021. Pimblett easily handled his business in his first three battles under the UFC banner, picking up stoppage wins and “Performance of the Night” bonuses against Luigi Vendramini, Rodrigo Vargas, and Jordan Leavitt. That’s not to say that those fights went perfectly for Pimblett, but he did dominate his opponents.

The hype train behind Pimblett seemed to downshift a few gears following his unanimous decision win over Jared Gordon in December 2022, and it stayed there after his December 2023 decision win over Tony Ferguson. After all, Ferguson had lost six straight, including four stoppage setbacks, before Pimblett defeated him via unanimous decision.

That train is back on the express tracks following UFC 304, and for good reason. Pimblett showed excellent situational awareness against Green; he took an enormous mistake from Green, shooting a takedown, and turned it into a highlight reel finish.

Pimblett looked for a guillotine as soon as Green was in on his leg. From there, the black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu transitioned to a triangle choke that he stuck with until he turned out Green’s lights at 3:22 of the first round.

It’s a mystery why Green would shoot a takedown on a fine grappler like Pimblett while both fighters were dry, but he did, and he paid the price for his hubris, losing the fight and most likely his No. 15 ranking in the process.

Pimblett deserves to take a victory lap after the big win on Saturday. However, after the celebration ends and he and his team return to business, Pimblett will still have questions to answer.

Now that he’s likely to be a ranked fighter, he’ll find opponents eager to elevate themselves with a victory over a fighter who is, at the very least, a star in his home country of England, and those fighters will be looking to see if they can exploit the one part of Pimblett’s game that seems to be his weakness.

The biggest question facing Pimblett has to do with an issue that has plagued him throughout his career: his striking style. Pimblett is not a bad striker, but he leaves his chin exposed and keeps his hands low, which was especially noticeable in his bout opposite Gordon. Gordon connected on 58 percent of his significant strike attempts, and Ferguson also had success in landing, connecting on 59 percent of his significant strikes. Don’t think for a second that his upcoming opponents, who will be more skilled than his previous foes, won’t look to exploit that perceived weakness.

As Pimblett noted in his post-fight sit down with the media, “I think everyone’s a tough fight in this decision, especially the top 15. You’re not getting an easy fight. It’s as simple as that. Every single fight in the top 15 at lightweight. it’s the most deep division in the world when it comes to mixed martial arts. Any fight is going to be a tough fight. Especially now, I’m looking up the rankings, so every fight I have know is going to be a tough fight.”

Pimblett may be brash. Pimblett may be cocky, but underneath his boisterous personae is a man who knows that the win over Green put a target on his back that wasn’t there before UFC 304.

Things are about to get very interesting when it comes to Paddy Pimblett and the UFC’s lightweight division.

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