‘I Won That Fight, Simple As’

Forget everyone else’s scorecards. Paddy Pimblett explains why he took two of three rounds in his fight against Jared Gordon at UFC 282.

Paddy Pimblett walked away from his UFC 282 fight against Jared Gordon with a gift decision, moving his record in 2022 to 3-0. And while this wasn’t the most exciting Paddy “The Baddy” fight we’ve ever seem, Pimblett was more than happy to talk the bout up at the post-fight press conference.

“Everybody’s got an opinion, opinions are [like] a—holes, everyone’s got one,” he said when asked about criticisms of the judging. “I know I won that fight, simple as. I deal in facts, lad, and I won a unanimous decision, not like it was a split decision. Look at his face and mine. Fights get scored on damage now. I landed a lot more damage, end of.”

“He can take a punch,” Pimblett added. “I was hitting him with some big shots and he kept coming forward. Hands off to Jared, he’s a great fighter and a phenomenal human being.”

Pimblett was extremely happy to get some proper cage time in, even though he feels like he didn’t grind as much as he could have in the third round.

“I’m pretty happy now because I just did my first three hard rounds in the UFC against a hard opponent,” he said. “I could have pushed it more in that third round but I coasted a little bit, cuz I’m two rounds up I coasted a little bit, especially with the ankle [injury]. I shouldn’t have, it’s me own silly fault. I shouldn’t have coasted in the third round, but control time means nothing if you don’t do anything with it.”

Pimblett added that Gordon’s wall and stall in round three actually helped him avoid having to use his injured ankle.

“My ankle was pretty compromised in the third round,” Pimblett said. “I was worried about my ankle, so because of that, if he tried to strike with me more he would have caught me more cuz I couldn’t move properly, me foot wasn’t 100% so if he’d stayed striking with me he would have had a lot more success because my mobility was a little bit stuck in the mud. When he pushed me up against the cage I was like ‘Yeah, let’s chill.’”

“I’ve had ankle injuries before, but I feel like there’s something in me ankle floating about, it’s a bit weird. I don’t know what it is, I got a splint on me ankle now. I’m getting it looked at on Monday. Hopefully it’s not too bad and I can focus on fighting, but I don’t know. I’m hoping I don’t need surgery.”

With this being the final UFC pay-per-view card of the year, Pimblett gave an assessment of his 2022.

“It’s been a good year,” he declared. “3-0, two finishes. I’ve just went a full 15 against a very tough opponent, he comes to fight every time, and has the cardio for 15 minutes. And I won by unanimous decision, that’s all that matters. So I really have had a brilliant year and long may they continue.”