Paddy Pimblett is a fighter who is never short of confidence, and following his UFC 314 win over Michael Chandler, he believes he is one of the best bar none.
Coming into UFC 314 on Saturday night in Miami, there was no doubt that Michael Chandler was going to be Paddy Pimblett‘s toughest test to date, and that it would show exactly where the Brit fits into the division.
The stakes for their five-round co-main event were slightly increased just days out from the fight, as the sport’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, declared interest in fighting the winner.
‘The Baddy’ went on to showcase exactly why he has been considered one of the biggest stars in the sport for a while, scoring a finish over Chandler in the third round.
Pimblett claims only Jon Jones has better fight IQ than him
Following the biggest win of his career, Pimblett called out ‘cheeky’ Conor McGregor, potentially setting up one of the biggest fights in MMA history.
However, the 30-year-old will now find himself ranked inside the top eight of the 155lb division come Monday morning, immediately putting him into the lightweight title conversation.
Prior to his win this Saturday, ‘The Baddy’ has continuously received criticism for his fight style as fans have claimed his striking defense would one day get him knocked out.
Despite that, the scouser believes that there is only one fighter ahead of him when it comes to his fight IQ, and that is the consensus greatest fighter of all time, Jon Jones.
“I smelt blood in the water, and I’ve got proper killer instinct, but the one thing I did do is I obviously ran at him and started putting it on him and then, we’d spoken about it beforehand, a wounded animal is the most dangerous one, and you’ve seen it with Chandler before,” Pimblett said in the post-fight press conference.
Pimblett was seemingly looking for the submission win moments before transitioning to full mount and reigning down ground-and-pound.
“Yeah, (I can see my growth), I think I’ve got the best fight IQ in the game other than Jon Jones, I’ve got the best fight IQ in the game, I don’t think anyone’s got better fight IQ than me and I couldn’t wait to throw a 12-6 elbow,” Pimblett continued.
Another fighter who is widely considered to have one of the best fight IQs in the sport is Alexander Volkanovski, who reclaimed his UFC featherweight title in the main event.
Pimblett comments on Chandler being a dirty fighter
Going into his co-main event against Chandler, the Brit was well aware of accusations regarding Chandler being a ‘dirty’ fighter.
Former opponents Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje have both accused the former title challenger of fighting dirty, and against Charles Oliveira, he received a lot of criticism for striking to the back of the head.
A few rounds into their fight, Chandler landed a big low blow on Pimblett which resulted in a brief stoppage in the fight.
“I don’t know (if he did it on purpose), as I say, I like Mike, he’s a nice fella, he’s very respectful and nice outside of the cage, but when he gets in it, he’s not). He hit me with about four punches to the back of the head in the first round, nothing even got said to him.
“You never know, he might’ve kicked me on purpose because he needed a little break,” Pimblett said.
