Paddy Pimblett has remained silent following his interim UFC title loss, until now.
In a lengthy video posted to his YouTube account, the British star rewatched his unanimous decision loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 324 in January and questioned the outcome as well as the refereeing at the end. Pimblitt (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) was poked between the eyes during the fight. He believed he should have been deducted a point and claimed his performance had been severely affected.
advertise
“I don’t want to sound like a sore loser, but that changed the whole fight,” Pimblett said. “To be honest, he hit me later because he hit me and started elbowing me, but I won the third round easily. So imagine if that never happened in the second round… My depth perception was off and they were yelling at me to knock me down, but sometimes he looked far away and sometimes he looked close.”
Pimblitt found out after rewatching the fight that he had won two of the five rounds. Gaethje won’t go home with the UFC interim lightweight title if the points are deducted.
“For me, I won three and five,” Pimblitt explained. “If it scores like he deserves, boy, it’s a tie. I don’t want to sound bitter, you can’t cry over spilled milk, but I kind of feel it. I know how Jared Gordon feels, I’m going to say that. I know the scorecard isn’t going to be in our favor. That’s why I did a little bit of like, ‘I don’t know,’ to my mom and dad, because I half knew I lost. You can see my eyes lit up where they should have been red.”
Pimblitt has won seven straight in the promotion. The loss to Gaethje was his first defeat inside the Octagon. Despite the setback, Pimblett feels quite optimistic about his career. He feels like he’s taken a big step forward and could see a UFC lightweight title shot in the near future.
advertise
“I knew I was going to be world champion no matter what,” Pimblett said. “It’s just going to be a little later than expected. It’s going to be interim, you know how people talk about me. It’s going to be, ‘Oh, he’s interim and not a real world champion.’ So when I win the title now, it’s going to be undisputed and no one’s going to say anything.”
As for what happened next, Pimblett said that despite the visuals of the fight, he suffered no real injuries. He’s ready to go and hopes to return in the summer to fight any of the top lightweights.
“I’ll fight anybody, I just want any name — I sign the contract and fight them, but St. Denis sounds good to me,” Pimblett said. “Two of the best lightweights in Europe fighting each other, or Max (Holloway) versus Charles (Oliviera), winner or loser. Fuck, I’m going to fight Oman. I don’t care. I’ll fight anybody, but I’ll be back in the summer.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett: UFC title loss to Justin Gaethje should have been a draw
