UFC star Paddy Pimblett addresses critics after refusing to release choke on gym rival

‘Paddy The Baddy’ was dragged off of Denis Frimpong, who tapped out to a rear naked choke

Paddy Pimblett has addressed criticism of his refusal to stop choking an opponent in a gym fight, saying he followed the agreed-upon rules.

In January, footage emerged of the Liverpudlian UFC star fighting Denis Frimpong, an Irish mixed martial artist, at a gym in Manchester. The fight ended with Pimblett securing a rear naked choke and ignoring Frimpong’s repeated taps.

“Paddy The Baddy” was ultimately dragged off of Frimpong, and now the 30-year-old has discussed the incident – and the source of their grudge.

“We both agreed, we don’t stop until someone’s unconscious,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “Taps don’t count, quitting to strikes doesn’t count. We just go until someone’s out cold.

“To be honest, I think he gave me the choke. He stuck his neck out to give me the choke, because he didn’t want to get flattened out and ground-and-pounded until he was unconscious. I took the choke, and as we all know, if you get choked unconscious, you just wake back up.

“A lot of people [are] saying I’ve got no honour, I’ve got not ‘this’, I’ve got no ‘that’. I’ve seen Denis say in an interview since: ‘If I would have knocked him unconscious, I would have jumped on him and landed a few more strikes.’ All is fair in love and war.

Liverpudlian UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett (Getty Images)

“[After the choke], I stood back up and went to the corner and just said: ‘Come ahead, let’s go again from the feet. You said you wanted to strike. Let’s go again from the feet.’ And Denis came over and said: ‘No, I’m done, I don’t want to go again.’

“And then we shook hands like men. We all know the truth. Me and Denis have shook hands, it’s done. We both agreed to never speak about it again. Simple as, end of.”

Explaining the origins of his feud with Frimpong, 30, Pimblett claimed: “He was bullying two of the lads who come to my gym, Jake and George, who are like my little brothers. I train with them every day. I had something against him just for that anyway. As you all know, I don’t like bullies.

“And then when he fought George in the final of [a competition], he was saying mad stuff to George, saying, ‘Your grandma’s going to go to hell’ – well, ‘in hell’, because his grandma’s dead [...] All that stuff rubbed me up the wrong way.”

In his last fight, in July, Pimblett submitted King Green with a triangle choke (Getty Images)

Frimpong even defended Pimblett’s extended use of the choke, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “To everyone chatting s*** about @PaddyTheBaddy not letting the choke go, chill out.

“It’s a f***ing choke, I didn’t even go unconscious, and it was a straightener scrap. I went in fully expecting that if he caught a choke he was gonna try put me out, don’t chat s*** you don’t know.”