‘The Baddy’ continued his rise up the lightweight ladder at UFC 314 with the biggest win of his career to date.
Paddy Pimblett may have been frustrated about the scorecards but that didn’t stop him from getting his hand raised for the seventh consecutive time inside the Octagon.
In the co-main event on April 12, Pimblett stopped former UFC title challenger Michael Chandler to seemingly book a spot in the division’s top 10.
With the very top names like Charles Oliveira now on Pimblett’s radar, the controversial star is becoming harder to deny with each win as he shows clear improvements in his game.
One statistic potentially argues against this uptick in form by referencing the recent careers of his last few opponents.
Chase Hooper defends Paddy Pimblett after statistic goes against his impressive UFC 314 performance
A lot of fans were left incredibly impressed by Paddy Pimblett’s performance in Miami even if there are questions about whether Michael Chandler belongs at the top level at this stage in his career.
Chandler has fought nothing but the best lightweights in the world and ‘The Baddy’ didn’t just beat him at the Kaseya Center, he mauled him in the final moments.
A statistic shows that whilst Pimblett’s performance showed the clear evolution in his game, his last three opponents have all been going through rough patches.
Between Chandler, King Green and Tony Ferguson, they have a combined current losing streak of 13 defeats in a row.
Ferguson holds the record for the most consecutive losses in UFC history at eight whilst Chandler is now winless in his last three with Green being on the end of back-to-back defeats.
Despite this statistic, which could make some fans view Pimblett’s winning streak in a different light, this isn’t how Chase Hooper sees it.
The 25-year-old was also in action on Saturday night where he defeated Jim Miller on the prelims to produce his fifth consecutive win in the lightweight division.
He responded to a post about the stat on social media, passionately arguing for why Pimblett deserves praise for the performance that he put on against Chandler even if his opponent isn’t the same fighter that he once was.
“As another LW, the Chandler fight was f—— impressive! It was an absolute beat down from Paddy that I don’t think anybody expected him to look that good against someone like Chandler. He’s elite, excited to see who they give him next.”
Chase Hooper is tired of fighting lightweight veterans right now
With Paddy Pimblett getting criticized for beating older opponents towards the end of their careers, Chase Hooper is now looking to avoid this in his next outing.
The young contender has beaten 43-year-old Clay Guida and 41-year-old Jim Miller in his latest outings with Hooper stating in his post-fight interview that he wants to fight another rising lightweight next time out.
As for Pimblett, it looks more likely that he will be facing another lightweight staple next time out rather than one of the division’s newer arrivals with the likes of Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje in his crosshairs.
Ultimately, it’s simply the cycle of combat sports that the old guard eventually get replaced by a new generation and ‘The Baddy’ is representing that right now.
