Paddy Pimblett’s long-standing run at Next Gen MMA’s King of the Mat came to an end over Christmas, and he has since shared his side of the story.
The lightweight is deep into training camp for his interim title shot against Justin Gaethje at UFC 324 later this month in Las Vegas. During camp, he took up a familiar challenge from his gym back home in Liverpool.
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Pimblett had built quite a streak in the annual event, but this time he was caught by a calf slicer that forced him to tap out – a moment that quickly made the rounds online. Now, he’s put out a video explaining exactly what happened.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Paddy Pimblett breaks down the move that caught him out
Footage of ‘The Baddy’ being submitted by relatively unknown training partner Aaron Jordan at the annual King of the Mat event did the rounds on social media over Christmas. With UFC taking a break, it gave fans a rare look at one of their biggest names in action.
Pimblett had said before the event that he was not planning to compete, having already completed a tough double training session with five rounds of sparring earlier that day. His January 24 bout will be his first five-round fight in the UFC, and he was deep into camp at the time.
In a new video, he shared fresh footage of how it all happened and spoke to Jordan afterwards. “That was rough, that,” Pimblett said after what had already been a long day on the mats.
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“This c— had a half an hour breather while I had to go with the Polish machine,” Pimblett joked about his opponent’s submission, noting that the move used to gain position was illegal under the tournament rules.
“Then he got me into a f—ing calf slicer the c—. As I say, lad, I thought you were going for a heel hook and I was like ‘can’t heel hook in this anyway it’s sound’. Then it turned into that and I was like ‘f—‘… I’ve beat him in the final before and beat him on the way to the final so he deserves it, he got his payback.”
