Paddy Pimblett: Me vs. Conor McGregor 'would be the biggest pay-per-view the UFC has ever seen'

Paddy Pimblett has no doubt that a fight between him and Conor McGregor would be the highest selling in UFC history.

Former UFC dual champion McGregor remains the sport’s biggest star and highest draw, but Pimblett has emerged as one of the most popular fighters on the roster. He thinks fighting Conor would inevitably do historic numbers.

“It would be the biggest pay-per-view that the UFC has ever seen, like put it that way, goes without saying,” Pimblett told ESPN.

That mark currently belongs to another McGregor fight, his 2018 showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which did approximately 2.4 million pay-per-view buys.

One thing standing in the way of a potential future fight between Pimblett and McGregor could be a change in division for McGregor.

“I think when Conor comes back, he’ll be fighting at 170 (pounds),” Pimblett said. “He’ll struggle to make 155 now to be honest. He’s looking big. But I respect Conor, you know what I mean? What he’s done for this sport, he’s done a lot more than most of the people that have done this sport, and I think he gets a bad rep, like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves.”

With McGregor having bulked up in size during his time off due to injury, his lightweight days could be momentarily behind him. But for a fight of this magnitude, Pimblett said he’d move up to 170 pounds if necessary.

“Yeah, get that paper, you know that,” Pimblett said. “No brainer, you know what I mean? Anybody that says no to fight Conor is an idiot, simple as that. I bet you (Rafael dos Anjos) regrets pulling out of that fight years ago. Bet you that’s the biggest regret of his life.”

Pimblett will compete in his first pay-per-view event when he meets Jared Gordon in the UFC 282 co-main event on Dec. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.