2023 has been a year filled with ups and downs for UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett. He had an extensive surgery to repair an injured ankle, but also got married. By summer he was back in the gym training.
Pimblett is scheduled to take on former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson on the UFC 296 main card on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ferguson has been training with David Goggins, a former Navy Seal and marathon runner who has authored two self-help books.
“I think it’s bizarre. I think it’s f**king stupid,” Pimblett told the Energized Show about Goggins training Ferguson. “If there’s two things Tony’s never needed help with is his mental state because look at the armbar with Charles [Oliveira]. He didn’t stop…. and then look at his cardio. He’s never had a problem with his cardio, so I don’t understand why he done it. He must be thinking that he’s not where he was mentally a couple of years ago. That’s not the reason he’s losing fights. It’s because he’s got older and he’s lost athleticism and he’s not as fast as he once was, and obviously that beatdown from [Justin] Gaethje changed his whole career, and then getting knocked out by [Michael} Chandler the way that he did. His brain’s not the same as it once was three or four years ago.”
Ferguson has lost six fights in a row, and Pimblett isn’t sure if a win over him does anything for his career.
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“Obviously he’s lost six in a row, but they’re all big names. They’re all big, very good names apart from Bobby Green, so as I’ve said plenty of times, I think this is a loss-lose fight for me because if I did lose, they’ll be like, ‘aw, you got beat by a washed Tony,’ and when I win people are going to be like, ‘Oh, Tony was washed anyway. It don’t matter,’ and all this, even though I see everyone online picking Tony to beat me. I know for a fact that even with a win I’m not going to get any credit,” said Pimblett.
Pimblett says that he wants a war with Ferguson, but doesn’t want it to last very long.
“I want to finish him in the first round. I want to be the first person to finish him in the first,” Pimblett said. “Everyone else has finished him in the second round, or a later round, so I want to be the first person to finish him in the first, but as I say, Tony’s tough. It would be a very good performance if I put him away in the first round.”
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/paddy-pimblett-thinks-its-bizarre-and-f-king-stupid-that-tony-ferguson-is-training-with-david-goggins
