Paddy Pimblett is aware of the criticism following his unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon and he’s responded.
Paddy Pimblett and Gordon shared the Octagon inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout went the distance and Pimblett earned scores of 29-28 from all three judges at Octagon side.
The general consensus is that the judges got this one wrong. Of the 24 media members who sent in their score totals to MMADecisions.com, only one had Pimblett winning the fight.
Speaking to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter, Pimblett fired back at those who say he was gifted a decision victory.
“I don’t think it was close,” Paddy Pimblett said.
“I don’t understand why everyone thinks it was close. I easily won the first two rounds, and then the third round I sort of coasted because me ankle was very soar. Me ankle, I think I need something doing to this ankle. It doesn’t feel right. So, as soon as it was the third round, he pushed me against the cage. I had no urgency to get off it. He wasn’t landing any damage. I was the one landing the strikes. I think he landed one significant strike in the third round.”
Pimblett then revealed whether or not the backlash to the decision is bothering him.
“I’m pretty pissed off, to be honest, lad, that people think I lost,” Pimblett admitted. “It’s annoying me, it’s annoying me a lot.”
UFC President Dana White shared with reporters during the UFC 282 post-fight press conference that he feels Gordon had a “terrible gameplan.” He believes Gordon coasted in the third round thinking he had the fight under wraps.
Regardless, Paddy Pimblett’s pro MMA record improves to 20-3. He’s riding a six-fight winning streak and is 4-0 under the UFC banner. This is the first time Pimblett has gone the distance in his UFC run.