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British UFC lightweight sensation Paddy Pimblett may already have a good opponent for his next outing in the Octagon. Though the ‘Baddie’ is still nursing an injury that prevents him from training, he welcomed the callout Matt Frevola made in his post-fight interview after beating Drew Dober by knockout at UFC 288.
Frevola called out Pimblett at UFC 288
In his brief talk to Joe Rogan, Frevola did not wast the moment under the spotlight to call out one of the most names of his division in Pimblett. In fact, taking a page out of Chael Sonnen’s book, Matt started the callout with the same words the former UFC middleweight contender used to get Anderson Silva’s attention in his post-fight interview at UFC 136, in October 2011.
“Paddy Pimblett, you absolutely suck,” Frevola said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Stop being a b-tch and let’s fight. You’re on a four-fight win streak. I’m on a three-fight win streak. If you’re in the UFC, you can’t pick and choose your fights. You’ve got to fight who the fans want to see you fight.”
Paddy Pimblett is sidelined due to an ankle injury
Though Pimblett welcomes the matchup, saying it is a favorable one for him, the Brit is still sidelined and not cleared to train. The layoff is due to an ankle injury suffered in his match against Jared Gordon, in December 2022, which required surgery to fix. On his official Instagram account, Paddy responded to a few comments regarding Frevola’s callout and how he sees the matchup.
“Bit of a weird time to call me out when I can’t even train,” Pimblett responded in a recent Instagram post. “But (yes) I’d fight Frevola when I’m back, probably the easiest route into the top 15.”
“I’ll get back in the gym when I can pal,” Pimblett said. “For now, the doctors have told me I cannot train.”
Pimblett’s injury could be serious enough to have the prospect sidelined for the remainder of 2023. In an interview with Sky Sports, Paddy said he would consider himself lucky if he could still step into the Octagon this year. Nonetheless, the Baddie tries to remain hopeful for a faster recovery.
“I had to get surgery after my last fight,” Pimblett said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Last fight, I hurt my foot in the first round, in like the first minute or two, threw a kick, hurt it. I felt it, like, but obviously we crack on, we get through the fight. At the end of the fight, I remember going back to the medical room and being just saying, ‘My foot’s sore.’
“Couldn’t get it looked at properly until I got home. Then, when the actual swelling went down, I didn’t know when to get surgery. It was a lot worse than we thought. I had to get inner and outer-ligament surgery, well reconstruction, so, it’s big.”
Paddy Pimblett is undefeated in the UFC
In his last outing, Paddy Pimblett (20-3) scored his fourth straight UFC win, beating Jared Gordon via unanimous decision in December 2022. Before that, the 28-year-old also scored victories over Jordan Leavitt, Rodrigo Vargas and Luigi Vendramini ever since he joined the promotion. The Brit’s most recent loss dates back to a unanimous decision loss to Soren Bak, in September 2018.
Meanwhile, Frevola (11-3-1) has made it three in a row with the knockout win over Dober at UFC 288. In fact, the 32-year-old previous victories also came by way of KO, when he finished Ottman Azaitar and Genaro Valdez, respectively in November and January 2022. The ‘Steamrolla’ has not lost a match since a knockout loss to Terrance McKinney in June 2021.
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