After going five rounds with current UFC standout Julian Erosa, Pimblett stood in the center of the cage fielding questions for the first time as a defending champion. He came out of the fight looking relatively unharmed, but visibly and audibly gassed.
Each answer was geared toward his diet and the weight cut, and immediately after making the room laugh by calling himself a fatty, he made them gag as the entire arena was treated to him vomiting mid-answer.
After living out most people’s biggest fear, Pimblett shamelessly carried on. Was “The Baddy” going to let a little bit of vomit stand in the way of his first title defense? Not a chance.
“The fact is I got my arm raised; I don’t care about being sick in the cage,” Pimblett said.
Was it the nerves of the moment or the body shots for five rounds? It wasn’t. It was one of the worst weight cuts of his career and it turns out that nobody understood just how bad it was while he was answering. They found out soon enough, as the championship rounds were nothing short of concerning for the champ.
“It was very unhealthy. I was gassed in the fight. I couldn’t even feel my arms and my legs in rounds four and five of that fight. It was literally just heart and determination that got me through that fight.”
What Pimblett also explained was that he gave everybody watching that day a peek inside of an MMA locker room after every fight.
“That’s just an adrenaline dump,” Pimblett said. “Most fighters know it themselves when they go backstage after a fight especially after you’ve done five five-minute rounds. It’s just one of those things.”
The charming lack of shame and his devotion to the sport will now be visible to UFC fans, as “Paddy the Baddy” has just signed on as an official member of the roster. And at 26 years old and now fighting at lightweight, where he has won three of his last four, Pimblett has plenty of time to put on one hell of a show. If the early days of his career hadn’t already proven it, his performance against Erosa showed the MMA world that he’s a threat to anyone on fight night.
Only the future knows what’s in store for the world now that he’s in the UFC.
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