'The Baddy' continued his rise of the lightweight ladder at UFC 314 with the biggest victory of his career to date.
Paddy Pimblett may have been frustrated about the score cards, but that did not stop him from getting his hand in the Octagon for the seventh consecutive time.
In the Co-Main event on 12 April, Pimblett stopped former UFC title finer Michael Chandler to apparently book a place in the top 10 of the division.
With the top names such as Charles Oliveira now on Pimblett's radar, the controversial star with every victory becomes more difficult to deny while showing clear improvements in his game.
One statistics may argue against this increase in shape by referring to the recent careers of his last few opponents.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Chase Hooper defends Paddy Pimblett after the statistics go against his impressive UFC 314 performance
Many fans were incredibly impressed by the performance of Paddy Pimblett in Miami, even if there are questions about whether Michael Chandler belongs at the highest level at this stage in this stage.
Chandler has nothing but the best light weights in the world fought and 'The Baddy' did not only beat him in the Kaseya center, he got him at the last moments.
A statistics shows that although Pimblett's performance showed the clear evolution in his game, his last three opponents all gone through rough patches.
Between Chandler, King Green and Tony Ferguson they have a combined current losing line of 13 defeats in a row.
Ferguson holds the record for the most successive losses in the UFC history on eight, while Chandler is now profitless in his last three, with Green at the end of back-to-back defeats.
Despite this statistics, so that some fans can view the winning series of Pimblett in a different light, this is not how Chase Hooper sees it.
The 25-year-old was also in action on Saturday evening, where he defeated Jim Miller on the Prelims to produce his fifth consecutive victory in the lightweight division.
He responded to a message about the status about social media, and argued passionately why Pimblett deserves praise for the performance he has set up against Chandler, even if his opponent is not the same hunter he once was.
“If another LW was the Chandler fight impressive! It was an absolute beat of Paddy that I don't think someone expected to look so good against someone like Chandler. He is elite, excited to see who they give him afterwards.”
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Chase Hooper is now fed up with lightweight veterans
With Paddy Pimblett that is criticized because he has defeated older opponents towards the end of their career, Chase Hooper now wants to avoid this in his next outing.
The young competition has defeated 43-year-old Clay Guida and 41-year-old Jim Miller in his last outings with Hooper in which he states in his interview after the fight that he wants to fight a rising lightweight again next time.
As far as Pimblett is concerned, it seems more likely that the next time he will be confronted a lightweight staple instead of one of the newer arrivals of the division with people like Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje in his cross.
In the end it is just the cycle of combat sports that the old guard will eventually be replaced by a new generation and 'The Baddy' now represents that.
Comments