We might know who the brash Liverpudlian is fighting next.
Paddy Pimblett has impressed so far in his young UFC career. The former Cage Warriors champ stepped up to the big leagues in 2021 and beat Luigi Vendramini in his Octagon debut. Last time out, at UFC London in March, he beat Kazula Vargas by submission.
Since then Pimblett has been called out by many fighters, but expressed that—like Sean O’Malley—he’s not interested in big fights until he gets off his entry level contract. One of the fighters who angled for the fight, who also happens to be similar standing to Pimblett, was Ottman Azaitar.
And, according to some eagle-eyed Twitter users, the Moroccan may have gotten his wish.
Recently Dana White was interviewed by Pivot. Video of that interview includes shots of the UFC’s matchmaking boards. Those clips resulted in news breaking that the UFC is targeting Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier and Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz.
Also on one of those boards is Pimblett vs. Azaitar. That fight is listed as being in the works for the UFC’s July 23 show in London.
Dear lord the ufc is trying to make paddy Pimblett Vs Ottman Azaitar pic.twitter.com/r2RwPm4MKr
— 231 Lb Crute (@Bendaman2001) May 3, 2022
The video clip shows that this event was without a main event and co-main event at the time of taping. Since then the UFC has announced Curtis Blaydes vs. Tom Aspinall and Jack Hermansson vs. Darren Till as the main and co-main.
Also expected at that event is Nikita Krylov vs. Alexander Gustafsson and Muhammad Mokaev vs. Charles Johnson.
If Azaitar does face Pimblett in London, he will be staking his perfect 13-0 record against the Liverpudlian. He is 2-0 in the UFC with stoppages of Teemu Packalen and Khama Worthy under his belt.
Before beating Worthy in 2020, Azaitar was famously booted from the promotion for breaking health and safety protocols at the so-called Fight Island in Dubai. That incident included Azaitar passing his fighter hotel access granting wristband to an unknown individual, who was then captured on CCTV hoping around balconies before depositing a bag on Azaitar’s balcony. Azaitar’s team later claimed the mystery bag contained potatoes.
