Heading into UFC 314, many believed lightweight star Paddy Pimblett was facing his toughest test. “The Baddy” took former title challenger Michael Chandler in the fight card’s co-main event and largely dominated the former three-time Bellator lightweight champion.
It wasn’t that Pimblett beat Chandler, it was how he did it. He won the striking exchanges, controlled Chandler on the ground and eventually punched and elbowed his way to a third-round TKO finish. It was an impressive display that earned Pimblett a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus.
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has been impressed with Pimblett for some time and believes Pimblett rises to the occasion.
“Paddy is outstanding,” Whittaker said on the MMArcade Podcast. “Since he switched on and starting putting a beating on people, since he stopped mucking around as much, I just love seeing what he’s doing. You can see, the harder the competition the more you’re getting out of Paddy.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that that wasn’t the best version of Chandler we’ve ever seen. That looked like a Chandler that’s sick of getting hit. He’s sick of the work that it takes to get there. He’s a little gun-shy because he doesn’t want to – He looks like he’s kind of over it. That’s the vibe I got from him in that fight” continued Whittaker.
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Whether Chandler was on top of his game or not can be argued, but Pimblett was on top of his.
“He was making Chandler pay for every step he took. When he would move forward, he would piece him up. When he he moved away, he would piece him up. It was so impressive,” Whittaker said.
“Regardless of the version of Chandler you get, he is still so dangerous,” Whittaker added. “He just had such control over Chandler. And Chandler is an explosive, strong dude. Paddy was all over him… Paddy looked huge. Chandler got manhandled. He (Pimblett) impressed the heck out of me.”
