And just like that, Paddy Pimblett has moved up from the No. 9 ranking at lightweight to No. 7.
The change occurred on Tuesday morning’s rankings update, and few people noticed because no ranked lightweights were fighting at last weekend’s UFC 319. But that didn’t stop the 155 pound rankings from abruptly shifting and bumping “The Baddy” up two spots.
So how did this happen? Mateusz Gamrot and Beneil Dariush both dropped one spot in the rankings, allowing Pimblett to move up two. There’s no clear indication
of why that happened, though. Gamrot last competed at a May UFC Fight Night, beating Ludovit Klein. Beneil Dariush won his UFC 317 fight in June against Renato Moicano.
So what gives?
As we’ve mentioned many times when the current rankings system has spat out nonsensical changes, the rankings are generated by ballots submitted by a mishmash of random local radio and TV outlets, with a few MMA websites (some of them defunct) mixed in. It’s kind of shocking that they still work as well as they do given how out of date the panel is.
Perhaps they got swept up in the Paddy Pimblett vs. Ilia Topuria hype that is reportedly sweeping through America right now. “The Baddy” was in America two weeks ago to corner Nathan Fletcher at UFC Vegas 108. He said questions about a potential title fight against “El Matador” were endless.
“All I got asked this weekend was, ‘When are you fighting again, when are you fighting Ilia?'” he said on his YouTube channel. “I have no idea. Hopefully it is going to be me vs. the chorizo next.
“I think that’s all the Americans want because every American I’ve bumped into keeps saying, ‘When are you going to smash that sausage’s head in.’ I’m hoping that gets sorted, but I understand that I am ranked No. 9 or something.”
Not any more!
While Pimblett got a post-UFC 317 bump when Joe Rogan called him into the cage to face off with Topuria, he admitted his chances of locking up the next shot against Ilia were iffy.
“Other people are probably more deserving, but posh boy definitely isn’t — little rich boy Arman [Tsarukyan],” he said. “Showing how desperate he is, offering [Ilia] a million pounds to fight him. Spoiled rich baby trying to pay their way out of things. That’s why he quit when he was making weight in a bath like a little b*tch. Arman’s irrelevant, no one cares about him.”
“I got nothing but respect for Justin [Gaethje] but I keep seeing in interviews he doesn’t want to fight me … Seen Dan Hooker talking sh*t the other day as well. I used to like Dan Hooker. Now you can eat sh*t.”
Now it’s all up to the UFC and Topuria to agree on someone.
“I think the only fight to make is me and Ilia,” Pimblett concluded.
Will his sudden bump up to No. 7 in the rankings help solidify that opinion?
