Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett made a statement last night in Manchester as he earned a first-round victory over veteran lightweight King Green.
And whilst ‘The Baddy’ might have some ways to go before he reaches the pinnacle of the 155lb division and a shot at Islam Makhachev, the popular lightweight was delighted that he was able to best the Russian champion with his submission win.
Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett earns $200,000 bonus for UFC 304 win
At the UFC 304 pre-fight press conference, Dana White was convinced to once again up the post-fight bonuses to $100,000 – with Pimblett earning not one, but two Performance of the Night bonuses for his first-round submission of King Green.
“Love it – $100K each for the babies!” celebrated ‘The Baddy’ after being told that he’d earned the sweet, sweet bonus with Dana White himself hailing the Scouse superstar at the post-fight press conference.
“Listen, Paddy is one of those guys that everyone talks s*** about, and everyone wants to fight him, and everyone calls him out, and he keeps winning. He looked damn good tonight, that’s why he got the $200,000.”
Unfortunately, UFC 304 might very well be the last time we see White upping the bonuses as he also lamented his decision at the post-fight press conference: “I think tonight showed that we should not [up them], upping them doesn’t make them fight anybody fight any harder.
“I’m not doing this again… You can thank everyone on this card for that. Nobody fought any harder. There was no sense of urgency. ‘Holy sh*t, I want the $100,000.’ Seven straight f***** decisions.”
Paddy Pimblett sends a message to the haters with Islam Makhachev stat
Should Paddy Pimblett be the last ever UFC fighter to earn an increased-POTN bonus, it wouldn’t be without merit – with UFC 304 being the first submission loss for King Green since 2009.
Both in the octagon with Daniel Cormier and at the post-fight press conference, Paddy Pimblett sent a definitive statement to his doubters as he brought up an interesting stat about his fight with Green; versus lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s back in 2022.
“Ah it’s great – you can’t beat shutting people up, brilliant; like I love shutting people up… The amount of people that I’ve seen say ‘He’s never going to be ranked, he’s not good enough to be ranked, he’ll never be in the Top 15’.
“Even fighters on YouTube, then I go out there and put on a flawless performance, absolutely school them!”
Pimblett continued, “I caught him in a sub, and no one’s subbed him since January 2009. I saw a funny little stat there as well, my coach has just said that I finished him a second faster than Islam Makhachev [laughs].”
Makhachev was able to TKO Green at the 3:23 mark of the very first round of their fight in 2022, with Pimblett’s own submission win clocking in at 3:22 on the official timer.
So, what’s next for ‘The Baddy’?
‘The Baddy’ calls out popular star Renato Moicano after submission win
Well, the iconic Liverpudlian lightweight had one name on his mind for who he’d like to face in his next bout – a fellow fan-favorite superstar in the form of Renato ‘Money’ Moicano.
“I’m the first person to submit Bobby in the UFC lad, that’s saying something – that’s a statement so all you haters out there who said that I’d never get a ranking, what now?!
“I have a name that everybody wants to see me fight, Renato Moicano! Hopefully he gets through BSD and we’ll see if we can settle it before the end of the year or in the New Year.”
Moicano is currently booked to fight Benoit Saint-Denis in the main event of the UFC Fight Night card in Paris this September.
Should ‘Money’ come through that bout with flying colors, there’s no doubt that the promotion would look to book a fight with ‘The Baddy’ either for the end of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025.