📝 The UFC Got Paddy Pimblett In A Title Fight

To the surprise of every MMA fan with eyes, Paddy Pimblett will find himself fighting for an (interim) title this weekend. We’re going to explain his straightforward path to victory and why he is the perfect person to headline UFC 324.

Now let’s get into it.

Paddy Pimblett gets ragged on a lot but he is a solid MMA grappler. Nearly half of his wins are submissions. Those wins are fairly evenly split between triangle variations and rear naked chokes.

One weird quirk about Paddy’s game is that he doesn’t set up triangles chokes from guard. Whether mid scramble or defending fence wrestling, all of Paddy’s triangle finishes come after he has leapt into the air.

I couldn’t imagine a finish more emblematic of Paddy’s game. He goes from getting bombed on to finding a triangle in seconds.

This is part of what makes Paddy a unique challenge in modern MMA. He has zero fear of leaving his feet and landing in guard because when he doesn’t find a submission he can still sweep to a better spot.

The most reliable element of Paddy’s grappling is how he advances position towards the back. It doesn’t matter if he is scrambling or passing, Paddy is probably going to get behind you.

Paddy is great breaking his opponent’s base over and over again so they can’t stand up.

Below Paddy puts it all together. He wrist rides Violet to break his base, takes his back, and then hops into a triangle choke to finish the fight.

In Paddy’s most recent fight, he showed some mature style changes.

When I first covered Paddy Pimblett I saw he had a great opportunity to grab some low-hanging fruit by slowing down to cook people from top. That would give him more opportunities for ground and pound and preserve his gas tank.

In Paddy’s last fight he did just that.

Then the finish came a couple minutes later.

Paddy’s style now more closely resembles the modern meta of MMA grappling. And Justing Gaethje could have a serious problem with that.

Anyone even aware of MMA is a fan of Justin Gaethje. He’s claimed a numerous fight of the year awards and he’s the only fighter in UFC history to win a bonus in each of their first 7 bouts.

He’s nicknamed The Highlight for good reason.

I was curious about how Paddy’s grappling skill could match up with Gaethje’s wrestling. So I went through his fights to see if there was a common thread between the 8 times he’s been taken down in his career.

When you watch all of those fights together it’s obvious. Gaethje runs into trouble after he throws naked leg kicks.

Khabib Nurmagomedov followed Gaethje’s kick in to finish their fight.

A naked leg kick got Gaethje taken down and hurt in his first UFC fight.

He even even got taken down by muay Thai phenom Rafael Fiziev twice in about 30 seconds after throwing naked leg kicks.

There are good times and bad times to throw any strike. Generally, throwing a rear leg kick without punching first is a no-no because your opponent will likely see the kick coming and:

A. eat it to punch you in the face or

B. catch it and run you over

This is a fundamental opening that Paddy can exploit like the three men above did. I’m just not sure if he is up for it.

Justin Gaethje has been submitted twice. Once by triangle and once by rear naked choke. Those are the Paddy Pimblett specials! Getting the fight to his area of expertise is a whole separate issue.

Midway through Paddy’s grueling contest against Soren Bak he gave us a taste of his British wrestling.

Not much has changed since that fight.

Hooking the legs and bending straight over to grab takedowns like Paddy does above generally don’t work in wrestling. Both take take away your ability to run through your opponent.

The reason Paddy had any grappling success against Michael Chandler is because he ran him to the fence. Before that he had to scramble to take top after Chandler took him down.

Paddy can certainly out scramble Gaethje on the floor, but I just can’t see him putting Gaethje on the fence for long enough to take him down.

The bigger issue is that Paddy’s striking provides less coverage than a cheesecloth condom.

I know what you’re thinking. “That was 9 years ago in Cage Warriors. Surely Paddy has better defensive awareness now.”

What do you think?

I can not look at sequences like these and think “that man is a competent striker.” I can hardly look at them and not see Gaethje smacking Paddy and spinning his chin around in a circle.

I try to avoid using the labels “good” and “bad” when I’m talking about fighting because the whole sport is one big grey area and that’s exactly why it’s so cool. Anyone can develop a unique game based around their unique attributes.

Who cares what the punches look like if they hurt people?

Contrast that with sprinting.

If you’re not fast, it doesn’t matter what running technique you use. You ain’t gonna be a sprinter.

Against my better judgement I still need to use the word to say I’m not sure Paddy is a good fighter. Yes, he is in the UFC fighting for the Interim Lightweight Title. “Good enough to fight for a UFC title” generally qualifies someone as “good”.

But can we really say Paddy deserves a title fight when he hasn't beaten someone under 35 in 3 years and none of the fighters he has beaten are ranked in the top 10 anymore?

I guess that’s part of the intrigue. We get to see if Paddy’s success is more matchmaker or mettle.

The other part of the intrigue is exactly why Paddy is the perfect fighter to headline this card.

Casual fans think Paddy is funny. Everything about him is kind of funny.

He has a funny head of hair, his accent is funny to American audiences, and he can cut a funny promo with funny insults.

Sausage. Helmet. Mushroom. No two syllable word is safe from being turned into a label to describe Paddy’s opponent as phallic.

Paddy’s jokes, look, and finishes were enough to earn him a 7 figure deal with Barstool Sports and more than a million Youtube subscribers. He’s making more money than the majority of MMA fighters and we still don’t even know if he is good.

Previously we covered Jake Paul’s hustle exploiting combat sports. He is the archetype of a new generation of fighters. Men and women who are more influencer than athlete, looking to use their time in the limelight to push brand deals and sell commoditized products like body wash, beer, and other consumables you shrug at before begrudgingly buying at Target. Or Walmart. Or wherever you do your random shopping for the stuff you forgot to buy.

Paddy Pimblett is several steps above what Jake Paul is and probably will ever be but they’re merging into similar types of stars. With his Youtube channel and Barstool based following, Paddy Pimblett is the perfect person to premier the UFC’s partnership with Paramount+.

Paddy is an entertainer. Win or lose, he’ll cut a few lines that are perfect for short form video. That means the UFC will quickly slot him into the next card in England, win or lose.

The UFC has gone Hollywood and Paddy Pimblett is leading the charge.

When I’m not writing and watching fights I’m training and coaching jiujitsu. Now I’m going to start putting my lesson plans on The Help Desk.

I’ll be adding what I’m focusing on and teaching through the week. Each article will have technique flowcharts, warm-ups and positional sparring (games if you prefer that) to build the skill we’re trying to reinforce, and ideas on how you can structure your own teaching or training.

So if you want to learn what this flowchart means, study videos relevant to it, and build curriculum and classes that actually work, sign-up for the Help Desk.

UFC 324 has a weird pair of stories juxtaposed against one another. Co-Headliner Kayla Harrison had to withdraw to get neck surgery.
At the complete other end of the spectrum, UFC 324’s Derrick Lewis claimed the UFC has been giving him peptides to help with recovery. I actually think this is incredibly cool.
The UFC makes like $300 million in profit per year. I’m all for the UFC putting that money into athlete health and wellness by providing supplements, peptides, and legal medication to improve fighter health. You just have to hope it’s being doled out evenly and specifically for each athlete.

In addition to joining Paramount+, the UFC is also picking up new on-air talent. Soccer broadcaster Kate Scott will be joining Joe Rogan this weekend.