Paddy Pimblett’s hype train keeps rolling a long. The noisy Brit picked up a win at UFC London last weekend against a backdrop of roaring fans. With the win Paddy Pimblett continues to be thought of as one of the brightest prospects in the promotion. However, plenty of men are hoping to prove that MMA’s most famous bowl-cut is not worthy of such praise.
The latest fighter to call out Paddy Pimblett is Ottman Azaitar, who might be hoping that a fight with Paddy Pimblett would replace potato smuggling as the most interesting thing about him.
After Paddy Pimblett’s submission win over Kazula Vargas this weekend, Azaitatr fired up photoshop and then hopped onto Instagram to shoot his shot.
View this post on Instagram
“I respect you as a fighter and wish you stay undefeated in the UFC until we meet,” wrote Azaitar. “But I’m really not impressed! You felt pressure in your past fights but you never felt pain. May Allah give us the victory.”
Azaitar has a 13-0 pro record and two wins in the UFC. He debuted in the Octagon at UFC 242 in 2019 with a KO win over Teemu Packalen. He second fight came over a year later at UFC Vegas 10, where he beat Khama Worthy by TKO.
Azaitar is of course better known for an unusual incident that happened on the so-called Fight Island in Abu Dhabi in 2020. That incident involved Azaitar breaking security protocols at the event by passing his access-granting wristband to someone who was outside of the UFC’s COVID-19 testing bubble.
In response to this UFC President Dana White said Azaitar had been fired from the UFC. White further claimed that security footage captured Azaitar giving his wristband to the mystery man, who then allegedly shimmied down four hotel balconies and dropped a mystery bag on Azaitar’s balcony.
Azaitar’s team later claimed that the bag contained potatoes.
Strangely, White reversed his decision a few weeks later and stated that Azaitar would continue to get fights in the UFC.
Azaitar’s bizarre potato-gate story shouldn’t distract from other controversies involving the fighter and his brothers. The Azaitar brothers maintain a cozy relationship with the authoritarian King of Morocco. The brothers have also been hot topics for crime reporters in their adopted home of Germany.
About the author
