Paddy Pimblett says he plans to return a lot sooner than people think.
Pimblett lost a decision to Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title in the main event of UFC 324 in January. Gaethje delivered an outstanding performance, hurting “The Baddy” multiple times en route to his second interim title win.
One thing that has frustrated Pimblett since the loss was watching Benoit Saint Denis leapfrog him in the rankings following his stoppage win over Dan Hooker at UFC 325 a week after his fight.
“To be honest, I’ll be honest with you all, it pissed me off that Saint Denis has moved above me for beating that bum Dan Hooker,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “Why has Saint Denis moved above me for beating the bum Dan Hooker, who’s f*cking shit? What’s going on there?”
While many believe a fight between Pimblett and Hooker makes the most sense due to their ongoing heated rivalry, Pimblett doesn’t care who the UFC offers him following his first octagon loss. The 31-year-old is 9-1 in the promotion, including stoppage wins over King Green and Michael Chandler.
Pimblett knows when he wants to return to action, and has a list of fighter’s he’d like to face if he had the choice.
“I’ll fight anyone,” Pimblett said. “I just know whatever name gets sent to me on a contract, I sign it and I fight them. But Saint Denis sounds like a good fight to me. Europe’s two best lightweights going at it against each other. Or, I won’t get the winner, but the loser of Max [Holloway]-Charles [Oliveira]. F*ck, I’ll fight Arman if you’s want me to. I don’t give a f*ck. I’ll fight anyone.
“But I’ll be back in the summer. Just let me know when and where, Hunter, Dana, Sean, and I’m ready to go. I haven’t got any injuries. People keep going on, ‘Oh, the damage he took, he’s going to have to take months off.’ … I didn’t even have a concussion. I never had no headaches after it. All I had was a marked face and sore eye balls after getting poked in them.”
