Paddy Pimblett is bristling with confidence ahead of the biggest fight of his career.
“The Baddy” faces off with Michael Chandler in the co-main event of UFC 314 this Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami with plenty on the line for both fighters. Currently just outside the top 15 of the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, Pimblett can make a major leap up the list with a win over the No. 14 Chandler.
Not only does Pimblett expect to defeat the three-time Bellator champion, he plans to make things easy for the judges as well.
“I think I’m going to finish Mike in two,” Pimblett said in an UFC segment also featuring Chandler. “As I say, I think I can finish this fight anywhere. He loves lunging in with his punches, I can see me catching him with a shot on the way in, putting him down, or I can actually see me submitting him. I don’t see a way I lose, to be honest, I really don’t.”
Chandler has developed a reputation for having a do-or-die attitude every time he steps into the octagon. Since making the move from Bellator to UFC in 2021, Chandler has shared the cage with the likes of Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje, and given those future Hall of Fame inductees a run for their money.
Though he’s lost more than he’s won in the UFC, Chandler has earned plenty of respect for the quality of opponents he’s fought. On Saturday, he’ll take Pimblett just as seriously as the rest of them.
“When it comes to strength of schedule, when it comes to a guy who came in and said what he was going to do and then do it, fight the Mount Rushmore, first-ballot Hall of Famers of the who’s who of the lightweight division, that has been my strength of schedule thus far,” Chandler said. “But I’m not taking Paddy lightly. An absence of strength of schedule is not the presence of weakness.
“I’m looking at Paddy like he’s the most dangerous guy who I could possibly face on April 12. Even if he is self-proclaimed looks like a 16-year-old boy, but he doesn’t fight like that and we’re going to go out and put on a show for the fans.”
Pimblett sports a 6-0 UFC record and has garnered plenty of attention for his entertaining fights as well as his brash public persona. He might not be able to match the accomplishments of Chandler’s previous foes, but he’s on the rise and could be coming to put the final nail in Chandler’s UFC championship hopes.
One thing Pimblett is certain of is that there’s no way Chandler leaves him staring at the lights.
“Other people he’s fought, he’s not wrong, he’s fought first-ballot Hall of Famers,” Pimblett said. “He’s fought Poirier, he’s fought Gaethje, he’s fought Charles. All the best lightweights in the division for the past five years. But I think I’m going to make it look easier than they did. They play into Mike’s style. They stand there and brawl with him. I think anywhere this fight goes I’m going to win, to be honest.
“The only way I lose here is if I get hit with a big, crazy, wild shot on the chin and as you all know, Scousers don’t get knocked out, so there’s no way that’s happening.”
