Many of life’s greatest moments come as a result of timing. In the case of rising star and UFC lightweight Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett, there’s no better time than right now to enter the defining fight of his 13-year professional career.
Pimblett (22-3), whose hype has typically outshined his actual level of talent up to this point, enters a five-round, co-main event slot at Saturday’s UFC 314 pay-per-view card in Miami against former title challenger Michael Chandler (23-9) with a shot at silencing his critics and catapulting himself into legitimate title contention at 155 pounds.
With a previous tendency of blowing up in weight between fights, which has led to a mixed bag of performances (including a controversial decision win over Jared Gordon in 2022), Pimblett is entering his moment of truth inside the Octagon in the best shape of his career and a renewed mindset after his wife Laura gave birth to twins in 2023.
“[Fatherhood] changed my life in every way possible, to be honest,” Pimblett told “UFC Embedded” cameras this week. “I’m up early everyday. I’ve got to put these [babies] to bed early every night. It makes me train harder. You feel like you want to quit, you just think of these because I’m putting food on the table for these.”
“I’ve trained a lot harder than I used to. I used to take a lot of stuff for granted. I used to rely on me talent but, as the saying goes, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. So, I think that’s why people have seen a lot of improvements in me.”
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Pimblett’s six-fight unbeaten run in the UFC, which began with his 2021 debut, has seen equal shares of highs and lows. Long criticized for how often he leaves his chin exposed while trading punches, Pimblett has been seen as a fighter with true star potential and magnetism yet just as equally unproven at the elite level as he might be flawed.
The native of Liverpool, England, has also been less than active in recent years with just two appearances in UFC bouts over the past 29 months. The time off, however, has seemed to do Pimblett wonders as it allowed him to mature as a person and work on his craft, which was evident by his two most recent performances as he showed substantial growth in victories over fading veterans Tony Ferguson and King Green.
It’s the fact that Pimblett likely sits just two wins away from a title shot despite the fact that he has yet to face an elite foe that makes this fight against the battle-tested Chandler so important.
“This is definitely the biggest fight of me career,” Pimblett said. “I’m ranked No. 7 in the world, so it goes without saying this is the biggest fight of me career. I think Michael Chandler is a very good fighter, I think he’s a nice guy, as well. I can’t wait to shut everyone up.”
Not only is Chandler expected to be the biggest threat to Pimblett’s chin given his often reckless and explosive ways, it almost goes without saying how much more experience “Iron Mike” will bring with him to the cage even if he’s two weeks shy of his 39th birthday and currently amidst a streak of having won just once (a knockout of Ferguson) over a five-bout stretch dating back to 2021.
In Chandler’s case, his recent skid is given more grace considering all of his losses have come in huge fights against the division’s elite (Charles Oliveira twice, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier). Chandler also took an unscheduled two-year break from fighting between 2022 and 2024 as he unsuccessfully waited upon Conor McGregor to be ready for a PPV clash that doesn’t appear as if it will ever take place.
“[Chandler] wants to make a statement and show that he is still one of the top lightweights but I’m not going to let him,” Pimblett said. “I want to show everyone that I’m one of the top lightweights and that the old guard is getting replaced with the new guard. I’m coming in to take this belt.”
As Pimblett’s strength and performance coach, Paul Reed, explained it, “Paddy knows he has to raise his game” for the Chandler fight, which is why he has recommitted himself from a training and preparation standpoint given the potential of having to go 25 minutes at the type of hellacious pace that Chandler is known for luring his opponents into.
“This is the best I’ve ever felt [and] when you’re fighting Michael Chandler, I know even in the fifth round he’s going to come out and try to take my head off and push the pace for the first minute, anyway,” Pimblett said. “I’m going to come out for that round and I need to be ready for that pace.”
Pimblett went on to explain that recent Chandler opponents, even if they ended up victorious, found themselves too often forced to fight the action star on his own terms, often because the risks Chandler inevitably takes attract so much tension and unpredictability.
“I’m going to make it look easier than they did. They play into Mike’s style, they stand in there and brawl with him,” Chandler said. “I think wherever this fight goes, I’m going to win. To be honest, the only way that I lose here is if I get hit with a big, crazy, wild shot on the chin and, as you all know, Scousers do not get knocked out so you all know there is no way of that happening.”
Should Pimblett, a small betting favorite, pull off his biggest win to date and advance into a No. 1 contender fight, his timing couldn’t also be better from the standpoint that much of the narrative surrounding UFC’s start to 2025 has surrounded its lack of crossover stars during this era.
Pimblett appears on the verge of breaking out in just about every critical and commercial way possible.
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