Hearing ‘Heads will roll’, you know that it’s going to be a party atmosphere and that’s exactly what happened when Paddy Pimblett made the Octagon walk at the O2 Arena for the UFC’s return to London. As for Jordan Leavitt‘s walkout song? It could barely be heard over the boos that the crowd threw at the American.
Pimblett’s teammate, Molly McCann emphatically knocked out Hannah Goldy just two fights prior to Pimblett’s walkout and ‘The Baddy’ continued that form. After an interesting fight week between Pimblett and Leavitt, The Englishman finished Leavitt via rear-naked choke in the second round. After going back and forth all week, face-offs, face-to-face pull-outs and a memorable weigh-in, we finally have a conclusion to the fight week festivities.
WHO ELSE BUT PADDY THE BADDY?! #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/64SjIAt0bk
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 23, 2022
Result
The first round was a difficult one to score for the judges. There wasn’t a lot of damage done on either side. Leavitt came to crush the adrenaline of Pimblett and it appeared to work. He was able to clinch the Englishman up against the cage, work some big takedowns and nullify Pimblett’s attacks. Pimblett was able to constantly threaten submission attempts and ended the round on top, dominating the American.
The second round saw both men more willing to exchange on the feet, however, Leavitt shot for the single leg takedown after 45 seconds and controlled Pimblett against the cage. Pimblett was able to lock in a head and arm submission attempt, however, mixed it up and landed a brutal knee, dropping Leavitt.
He was then able to take the back of Leavitt, work the body triangle, whilst trapping the right arm inside the triangle and lock in the rear-naked choke. Liverpool’s own, yet again gets his hand raised in the country’s capital city.
Paddy Pimblett vs. Jordan Leavitt full fight video highlights https://t.co/oazfQKJpYX pic.twitter.com/NPOF8ue4Zz
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 23, 2022
What’s next for Paddy Pimblett?
This evening was probably the last time that we’ll see ‘Paddy the Baddy’ on English shores. Having made his debut in Las Vegas, Pimblett scored a performance of the night winning knockout in the first round. He made his triumphant return to England on March’s historic London card. Taking on Rodrigo Vargas, Pimblett yet again didn’t see the second round, this time finishing things via submission.
Naturally, we ask, ‘What’s next?’ for one of the UK’s biggest stars. Logically, he needs a step-up in competition. A really fun fight would be to face off against Bobby Green. Both men are game, will talk the trash and offer an entertaining fight. Green is ranked higher than Pimblett as per Tapology so would make logical sense for Pimblett.
A more entertaining fight would be for Pimblett to rekindle his rivalry with Ilia Topuria. The two clashed at March’s London event and almost got into it on multiple occasions. This fight would be an easy one to make as a main event, they have the back story, have the rivalry and would it would make for an entertaining lead-up. That is if Topuria stays at lightweight and is willing to sit out until Pmblett is ready.
Pimblett did say that we’d see him again before the end of the year, however.
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