Even Paddy Pimblett didn’t expect his fight with King Green to go that smoothly.
On Saturday evening in Manchester, England, Pimblett had the best performance of his UFC career, putting Green to sleep with a triangle-armbar combination in the very first round of their featured lightweight fight at UFC 304. The beginning of the end came after Green unexpectedly shot for a takedown early in the fight, a move Pimblett didn’t see coming.
“Yeah, I was surprised he shot in at all,” Pimblett said at his post-fight press conference. “He’s had some brilliant stand-up fight with people. The Jim Miller fight, he stood with Jalen Turner, he stood three rounds with [Rafael] Fiziev and won the last round. People kept talking about that in the build-up to this. So yeah, I was surprised, but as I say, everyone underestimates me just because I look like a 14-year-old girl.”
On paper, Green appeared to be the toughest test of the young superstar’s career thus far. A well-respected veteran and ranked No. 15 in the UFC lightweight rankings, conventional wisdom heading into the fight was that Green had a decided advantage on the feet. But Pimblett says he showed that wasn’t true, because Green was the one who decided to initiate the grappling, which was a gift for Pimblett.
“It was great!” Pimblett said. “As I said all week, people thought I was going to come straight in and shoot in, and I told you all I didn’t need to. People underestimate me striking and don’t think I can strike. I had a striker shooting in on me. I kept him on the end of me range, kept him on the end of me jab, using me kicks and stuff. I never even got the chance to throw a head kick at him.
“I leg kicked him, he shot in, and I capitalized on it. Guillotine, switched to triangle, and I ended up taking the arm as well. I thought the ref was a little bit slow, to be honest. I think he was unconscious for a few seconds before I took the arm, because I jumped out the cage and went wild for about 30 seconds, and then by the time I got back in the cage he was still lying on the floor unconscious.”
The fight was the first time Green has been submitted in UFC, and it was a particularly tough one as not only was Green unconscious for some time, but Pimblett is also concerned he may have done some damage to Green’s arm.
“No bad blood at all,” Pimblett said. “In this game, I like to be respectful. It’s one of them where we’re fighting to put food on the table for our families, and the fact that his arm went, I felt it. I felt a little crunch and it was nasty. I just hope it isn’t too bad, because I know he likes to be active and he likes to fight as much as he can. So hopefully it’s not a bad injury and he can fight again soon. But it’s nothing but respect with Bobby. Hopefully when I get back to the hotel we get to see each other and have a little ale together or something.”
The victory over Green will now move Pimblett into the UFC’s top 15 at lightweight, putting “The Baddy” now firmly in the title hunt. After the fight, Pimblett called for a matchup with Renato Moicano, who is currently set to fight Benoit Saint Denis at UFC Paris on Sept. 28. But once that’s over, Pimblett maintains that’s the fight he’s most interested in next.
“He’s obviously ranked above me as well, but the fact that I think the build-up would be hilarious,” Pimblett said of Moicano. “I think a season of The Ultimate Fighter with me and him as coaches would absolutely be comedy gold.”
