‘Star of the Show’ Paddy Pimblett Won’t Accept Ranked Foe Without ‘More Zeroes’ on Contract

There was a special feel to Paddy Pimblett’s victory at UFC Fight Night 204 at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday.

While it was only the second Octagon appearance for the former Cage Warriors title holder, and he was facing a relatively unheralded foe in Rodrigo Vargas, Paddy “The Baddy” electrified the crowd in his home country with a rear-naked choke victory at the 3:49 mark of Round 1 in a featured lightweight bout. Pimblett is now 2-0 in the UFC, and it feels as though he might be someone the promotion would be willing to throw its marketing might behind.

“Without being a big-headed tool, I am the star of the show,” Pimblett said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It’s that simple.Expect me to take over the show. I told you this. This is the ‘Baddy’ show. Swept The O2 right up.”

The performance would seemingly set the stage for a future clash with Ilia Topuria, who authored a scintillating knockout of Jai Herbert at 155 pounds on the main card. Pimblett and Topuria engaged in a brief altercation at the UFC host hotel in London during fight week, which could help to build some hype for a hypothetical bout between the two. Pimblett, however, says Topuria should take a number.

“Everyone wants to fight me,” Pimblett said. “Everyone wants to hang on my coattails. No one knew who hand sanitizer boy was until he tried to start an altercation with me. No one knew who he was. I’m the draw. Everyone wants to fight me.”

Topuria floored Herbert with a wicked right hook for his third consecutive finish in UFC competition. The 25-year-old “El Matador” normally competes at featherweight, and already has a more notable track record than Pimblett, but the brash Englishman was mostly dismissive of the man he nearly came to blows with a few days prior.

Give him his due, it was a good knockout,” Pimblett said. “It was a very good knockout, especially after taking that head kick in the first round. But if I hit him with that head kick, I would finish him.

“But as I say, he’s just hand sanitizer boy to me. A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of sheep.”

Topuria himself acknowledged that it’s highly unlikely that Pimblett would accept a fight with him anytime in the near future.

“Never,” Topuria said. “Never ever, I don’t think so. Maybe if Dana stayed with him with a gun, maybe yes, and they force him to go inside the cage with me. Maybe. Otherwise, I don’t think so. I don’t think he has the balls to fight me.

“With Paddy, I don’t give a f—k about any weight class. Even if he want to come and don’t make the weight, I’m gonna fight him. I don’t care about the weight with Paddy.”

In reality, it’s quite possible that the UFC continues to give Pimblett a soft matchmaking touch as the promotion continues to try and build his star. Topuria would be a significant step up in competition that could throw a monkey wrench into that process. For his part, Pimblett isn’t interested in facing ranked opponents until his contract reflects that standing.

“I wouldn’t take a top 15 fight,” Pimblett said. “I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t. Add some more zeroes to my contract and then I will. I think I proved tonight that I deserve a new contract. Not this little standard one.”