Meeting two versions of Paddy Pimblett as Scouse star finally fights for UFC gold

Before fighting for the interim lightweight title, ‘Paddy The Baddy’ speaks to Alex Pattle about opponent Justin Gaethje, rival Ilia Topuria, and his beloved Liverpool FC

Crossing the road on a junction by London Bridge station, preparing to turn the corner and head towards Bankside to interview Paddy Pimblett, I meet him unexpectedly early. Fourteen foot off the ground, he flashes a grin down at me, his eyes twinkling under that familiar spill of blonde hair. His head is much larger than expected, even with the knowledge that he tends to add significant weight between fights. This is UFC star “Paddy The Baddy” as a face of JD Sports, splashed across an advert on the side of a double-decker bus. Larger than life.

Fifteen minutes later, the real deal is much more unsuspecting, wearing a somewhat drowsy expression as he greets me in a modern office building. He’s been rushed to London for the day, and I’m his last interview before he dashes to Euston to return to Liverpool. “Euston’s about 30 minutes from here, isn’t it, lad?” he asks a member of the UFC’s PR team.

Keen to bring his mind back from his hometown, and back from Euston station, I turn the conversation to jiu-jitsu training and Liverpool FC’s Mohamed Salah woes. At the time of our interview, at the time of writing, Salah’s future at the club is up in the air. (By the time you’re reading this, the Egypt forward is still an active Anfield legend, rather than a departed one.)

“We’d really like him to stay, of course, we want him to stay and break more records with us,” Pimblett says, before referencing Salah creating tension at the club: “But he shouldn’t have done what he done. He made the club look silly, he made himself look silly, made the manager look silly, made everyone look silly.”

Fifteen minutes ago, Pimblett was on the side of a bus; Salah accused Liverpool FC of throwing him under one. “It’s one of them, lad...” Pimblett continues. “I hope he stays, obviously, and I hope he comes back and is the player he was in the first half of last season – in the second half of this season.”

Paddy Pimblett (left) dominated and stopped Michael Chandler in April, setting up a title shot (Getty Images)

Salah is, of course, one of the bigger names in world football, and you can debate the relative fame of UFC fighters, but Pimblett is one of mixed martial arts’ few genuine stars. Especially in the UK, casual UFC fans still ask in general conversations on sport: “How’s Paddy The Baddy doing?”

The answer is ‘very well’. On Saturday 24 January, he will challenge for a UFC title for the first time. Four years on from his promotional debut, the 31-year-old remains unbeaten in the UFC, and highlight-reel specialist Justin Gaethje is the man separating the Scouser from wearing championship gold in Las Vegas.

For clarity, this is the interim lightweight title, but Pimblett has no doubts: “When I win this belt, I am the best lightweight in the world. I don’t give a f*** what anyone says, whether it’s an interim belt or... The champ [Ilia Topuria] is not active, so while he’s out, I’m the champ.”

American Gaethje, 37, is in fact a former interim champion. Interestingly, when he won that version of the title in 2020 – before failing to dethrone regular champion Khabib Nurmagomedov – he tossed it to the canvas at once. “I’ll wait for the real one,” he told Joe Rogan.

For further clarity, Gaethje is a highlight-reel specialist not just courtesy of his wins, the majority of which have come via knockout, but also his defeats, which have come via submission in two of his past title fights. That leads us back to Pimblett, whose submission prowess has marked him as a favourite over Gaethje in the main event of UFC 324.

Justin Gaethje (right) will enter UFC 324 on the back of a win over Rafael Fiziev (Getty Images)

“It’s not an easy fight, but it’s an easy fight to prepare for,” stresses the UFC’s No 5 lightweight. “You’ve got a point: his grappling is his weakness and it’s my strong point. But I’m not coming in to grapple; people think I’m just going to try to take him down immediately, but I’m not. I’m gonna out-strike him and try and knock him out. If it comes down to it, if his chin really is that good, then I’ll take him down.”

Regardless of how the fight plays out, it will end with Pimblett’s hand raised, of this he has no doubt. Indeed, he speaks as if it is a foregone conclusion: “The preparation is the same, whether a title is on the line or not. There’s a different end goal, because I’m winning a belt, but everything else is very similar. Because it’s a different opponent, we tweak little things in training camp to fight that actual person, but it’s mainly just that I get to win a belt at the end of it.”

A win would potentially set up Pimblett for a grudge match with Topuria, who holds the regular belt. But how much of a grudge match is this now? In 2022, Topuria – of Georgian and Spanish heritage – confronted Pimblett at the fighter hotel before UFC London, taking issue with allegedly anti-Georgian tweets posted by the Scouser. Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitiser at Topuria in defence.

Almost four years on, Pimblett vs Topuria is not just close, it is on the cusp of materialising as a title fight, which few would have foreseen. Yet Topuria’s absence, the catalyst of the UFC creating an interim title, may continue as he prioritises a matter regarding his children – a “difficult moment” in his “personal life”.

Pimblett facing off with Ilia Topuria in June (Getty Images)

Topuria recently leant on that to highlight how his bad blood with Pimblett has stopped bubbling; he sees the Liverpudlian as a fellow family man, who likely respects Topuria’s priorities.

“I still hate him,” Pimblett is quick to say, though smiles as he does so. “And I know he still hates me. We still want to batter each other, but that’s in the cage. Family is different. I’d never, ever talk about someone’s family, and I know he wouldn’t talk about mine. He’s just not that way inclined. We’re not pieces of s***. It’s nothing to do with our families once we get in there.

“He can say anything he wants about me, anything personal. I can say anything personal about him. He can call me a blonde b***h all he wants, and I can call him a little sausage. That’s not bringing families into it, is it? So, it’s all good.”

Pimblett vs Topuria would genuinely be one of the biggest UFC fights in recent years. It is not real yet, but Pimblett’s star power is.

UFC 324: Gaethje vs Pimblett will stream live on TNT Sports Box Office in the UK, with access also available via Discovery+, EE TV, Virgin Media, Amazon Prime Video, and Sky Sports.