Paddy Pimblett made time to check in on Michael Chandler backstage last night after their gruesome battle in Miami.
The pair’s UFC 314 co-main event delivered on the promised violence, although it was mostly one way traffic as Pimblett blasted out Chandler over three rounds to land a TKO win. Heading into the fight, they were always respectful, and it appears they remained that way after the fact.
Chandler’s defeat is his fifth under the UFC banner and could spell the end for him at the top level. However, Pimblett still gave him his flowers as he moved up into the top ten in the lightweight division at the American’s expense.
After embracing in the cage following their fight, Paddy Pimblett and Michael Chandler went their separate ways. The former Bellator champion suffered a nasty cut during the fight and was brutally injured, but narrowly avoided being hospitalized.
Once they got backstage, before he had to undergo media duties, Pimblett made an effort to seek out his rival and share a moment behind the scenes. He told Full Send MMA about the meeting in an interview, saying: “I’ve just seen him.
“I wanted to go in and say thank you for taking the fight. I respect the hell out of him, he came into the UFC a bit older and every time he’s stepped up to the plate and he’s had a scrap, he’s done it with me there.
“No one else ranked higher has wanted to come in and fight me, people talk about fighting me and they don’t. Chandler came in and actually fought me and he might have got a beatdown but at least he stepped up to the plate.”
The next port of call for Pimblett is a fight that gets him to the point of finally being a world title contender. He wants that to be the former champion Charles Oliveira, whom he insists he has a better submission game than.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“I respect Dustin, Justin and Charles,” Pimblett said after the fight. “Charles is the biggest legend out of them all and he gets called the best submission artist the UFC’s ever seen, well I dispute that. I’m here, so me versus Charles.”
During that interview with Full Send MMA he insisted that his arrival in the UFC announced a new best submission game in the promotion. He is also keen to fight Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje and Arman Tsarukyan, the last of whom he has minimal respect for after pulling out of UFC 311.
LightweightMichael ChandlerPaddy PimblettUFCUFC 314
