LAS VEGAS – Paddy Pimblett wasn’t baffled by Justin Gaethje‘s win at all. But the response? Well, that might be a different story.
At UFC 329 on Saturday, Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) competed for the first time since he lost an interim title bout to Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) in January. The bout went the distance, with Pimblett losing by unanimous decision. The result set up Gaethje for a crack at undisputed champion Ilia Topuria, which he capitalized on with a TKO (retirement) stoppage.
Pimblett thinks the disparity in the public’s response to the two bouts is comical. When he lost, Pimblett heard the noise that he’d lost to an old man. When Gaethje beat Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), he saw heaps of praise for a spectacular performance. That math does not add up to him.
“I got wrote off after that,” Pimblett told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s event at T-Mobile Arena. “Everybody said I got beat by him, an old man. Then, he goes and does that to Ilia Topuria, and all of a sudden he’s the best thing since sliced bread. This just shows how the goalposts get moved constantly.”
“… I said that after I fought him. I got more respect losing a fight than I did winning seven in a row in the UFC. It just shows how mad our fanbase is, doesn’t it?”
Pimblett indicated that the result of Gaethje vs. Topuria didn’t change his own sense of reality.
“With him winning and becoming undisputed champion, it looks good for me. I said that after he beat me. I said he was going to beat Ilia Topuria. I said it was fate that he beat me. It was his destiny. He was going to win the world title at the White House. I was just in the way.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett says goalposts moved with Justin Gaethje’s UFC title win
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