Driven By Doubt: UFC 314 star Paddy Pimblett thrives on proving folks wrong

Few competitors have faced as much scrutiny and doubt coming into the UFC and through their first handful of years competing inside the Octagon as Liverpool’s Paddy Pimblett.

Presented as an ascending lightweight to watch upon arriving on the biggest stage in the sport in 2021, plenty that followed his career in Cage Warriors were skeptical the jovial Scouser with the Beatles mop would find serious success competing against the best the sport had to offer.

They believed it would be similar to his time in the British promotion, where he claimed championship gold, but faltered in a couple key moments, while stories about his lack of dedication and the drastic differences in what he looked like when he was in camp and out of camp became touchstones for those convinced he wasn’t serious enough about his craft and would therefore never come close to reaching the lofty heights he held out as goals for himself.

A UFC lightweight title? Folks weren’t sure he would beat Jordan Leavitt, and it’s carried on that way ever since, with each victory carrying caveats and explanations for why it doesn’t mean all that much and how Pimblett still isn’t the genuine article.

“I love it. I absolutely love it, lad,” Pimblett says with a pitchy giggle, stationed in his hotel room just a couple days ahead of facing Michael Chandler in the five-round co-main event of UFC 314 at Kaseya Center in Miami. “I love proving people wrong. It gets me out of bed in the morning, and motivates me to do even more and work harder; it really does.

“All this ‘fraud checked’ and all that stuff, I love it because when I win, I can laugh at them people even more.”

With Pimblett, who heads into his contest with Chandler brandishing a 6-0 mark in the UFC and positioned at No. 12 in the lightweight rankings, it’s a case of the goalposts constantly being moved.

Each new fight is the one where he’s going to get exposed, where he’s going to stop having success, and after each victory, the credentials and standing of the individuals that were days earlier supposed to be too much for the beloved fan favourite to contend with are altered in order to diminish his success.

“It happened with Bobby,” he says, referencing his fight with King Green (aka Bobby Green) at UFC 304 in Manchester last July. “‘Bobby’s gonna piece him up, Bobby’s gonna do this, do that,’ and then I absolutely smoked him.

“I was beating him on the feet, and then I submitted him in spectacular fashion, and after that, it was ‘He’s washed. He’s 38. He wasn’t even that good,’ even though everyone said he was gonna knock me out.

“Same again now with Chandler,” adds Pimblettt, who put Green to sleep with a slick triangle choke a touch over three minutes into the opening round. “Everyone’s saying Chandler’s gonna knock me out, ‘It’s too much of step up,’ this and that. Once I beat him, everyone’s gonna be like, ‘He’s 38; he’s washed. He sat out two years waiting for McGregor. He’s 2-4 in the UFC.’

“I’m used to it. Everyone’s gonna do that. It’s just normal for me, the goalposts getting moved.”

The only way Pimblett ever sees it coming to an end is when he gets UFC gold wrapped around his waist, and even then, he’s not so sure he’ll get full credit for his achievements.

“I wouldn’t surprise me if like Islam (Makhachev) moves up to welterweight to fight for that belt, and I end up fighting for a vacant and winning it. Then it’ll be ‘Ah, he couldn’t beat Islam.’ That’s just the way it goes with me.”

We laugh, and I suggest that the scenario sounds quite plausible, forecasting an early 2026 clash between he and Ilia Topuria for the vacant title.

“‘He only beat Ilia because he used to be a 145’er!’” Pimblett says laughing, forecasting the dismissive comments that would surely come.

Some people would let the constant criticism, shifting of expectations, and diminishing of their achievements get them down, turn them sour, but from the outset of his UFC career, Pimblett has remained an engaging bundle of positive energy and good vibes.

While there are surely periods where he’s not “takin’ the piss” and full of smiles, you never see it during Fight Week or on his trek to the Octagon. Instead, he resides at the other end of the spectrum, using every opportunity ahead of his fights to tell a few stories, verbally poke at opponents and adversaries, and generally enjoy himself.

And when it comes time to make the journey out to the cage and compete, few, if any, seem to enjoy themselves more than “Paddy the Baddy.”

“I love fighting,” he says, a massive smile spreading across his face, confirming his statement. “I always say, ‘We get paid to weigh in, and then we fight for free.’ I love fighting.

“That bit before it where you get to bounce out to the crowd and everybody’s feeding off the energy? I love it. Some people dread it, some people don’t like walking out, and just walk out all timid, but I love it; I thrive off everyone’s energy.

“It’s funny because I’m fighting in the city where Michael trains, and I know I’m gonna be the home fighter,” adds Pimblett, clearly tickled by the idea. “Everyone’s gonna be chanting my name, everyone’s gonna be going bananas when my song comes on.”

As much as there has been constant criticism and massive attention, the 30-year-old Next Generation MMA man has handled it all with aplomb, navigating his way through the intense spotlight and non-stop doubt with a smile on his face.

Some of that is just his nature, but having experienced early success and failing to deal with it well also contributed to his being uncharacteristically prepared to handle everything that has been thrown at him since arriving in the UFC.

“Definitely, a hundred percent,” says Pimblett, who won the Cage Warriors featherweight title when he was 21. “Back then, I didn’t handle it very well. When I was like 21, 22, I got a bit ahead of myself, thinking I was the best thing since sliced bread. I wasn’t training as much. I was going out partying all the time, going to the gym on two-hours sleep, only turning up to the gym when it was fight camp, only dieting then. That’s why I always say I’m so happy I stayed in Cage Warriors.

Pimblett famously declined a pair of early offers to sign with the UFC, opting to stay with Cage Warriors rather than chase his grander dreams at a point when he knew deep down he wasn’t ready.

“It was around the time I got offered the first contract with the UFC. I know that if I would have taken the contract and been off acting like that, I would have went about 3-6 in the UFC and got cut. I had to learn a couple of valuable life lessons before I got to the UFC. Winning that Cage Warriors world title — I was a boy thinking I was some celebrity, and having to remember where I came from and stay grounded. Without all that, I think my head would have fell off when I first got into the UFC.

“I’m so happy that happened then because you start hanging around with people who are only around to get you into nightclubs and people who want to leech off you,” continues Pimblett, who has won eight straight overall and carries a 22-3 record into Saturday’s co-main event clash with Chandler in South Beach. “I started distancing from me team, me good friends, me family. I had a falling out with me dad and everything.

“It’s just the opposite of that now: I keep me Day Ones close,” he adds. “Me gym team is basically me family. I’m with them that much. Me wife and me kids, me mum, me dad, me sister, all of me family — they’re the main people to me and that’s all that matters.

“Obviously I have other acquaintances, other people who are friends, but I keep the close ones close; the people that have been there from Day Dot.”

Looking at the criticism he’s faced and the doubt that greets him ahead of every fight, it feels like some people — this writer very much included, until his last fight — have been anchored to old opinions, old impressions about the boisterous, young lad that preferred partying to preparing, carrying on instead of carrying himself like a professional at all times.

But that isn’t who Pimblett is any more, and the results — even if you want to question the level of competition he’s faced — show that he’s improved and is dangerous, while his physical transformation is undeniable as well.

“A lot of people still probably think that I’m at my past ways from when I was a child,” he says when asked if that could be the case, putting extra emphasis on the final two words to bang home the point. “It’s funny because — I’ll be honest: I didn’t fully mature until I was 25, 26. When you look at me body when I first started fighting in the UFC and look at me body now — that’s just dedication to strength and conditioning.

“I didn’t lift a weight until I was 25. All I used to do was circuits and MMA training. Now, me body is completely different. I’ve never been this strong, never been this fast; I’ve just never been like this before. I half-shocked me-self because I used to think I was good. I used to think I was a complete MMA fighter when I was younger, and I just look at 21-, 22-, 23-, 24-year-old me and think, ‘I would punch your face in.’

“I was a late bloomer. … I’m not gonna hit my prime for another two or three years I don’t think.”

He’s playing for a laugh, but Pimblett genuinely believes that even greater things are ahead of him, because he’s believed all along that reaching the top of the heap in the UFC is his destiny.

That’s why he was willing to turn down the promotion’s initial advances, and why, even in the dark moments during an 18-month stint on the sidelines between 2018 and 2020 that left him wondering if he’d made a massive mistake, he managed to keep the faith.

“I always knew I was destined to be in the UFC, I knew all this was gonna happen. That’s why I don’t worry about stuff,” he says, his tone carefree and light. “People say, ‘Are you nervous?’ and it’s like, ‘No,’ because I knew all this was going to happen, just like I know I’m gonna beat Michael Chandler.

“And then I know I’m gonna beat a top-five, just like I know I’m gonna be a UFC lightweight world champion.”

Then, and maybe only then, the doubters will give him his due.

But probably not.

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