1 week Ago By Lewis Thompson
Paddy Pimblett has shot to superstardom in the fight game due to his natural talent and unique personality.But the Liverpudlian’s distinctive hairstyle has always added a slight edge to his larger than life character.Pimblett started his UFC career fighting with his natural Beatles-esque trimGettyBut soon realised he had to switch it up in the OctagonGettyPimblett takes on Michael Chandler this weekend in the co-main event of UFC 314.
It is a career-defining fight for the 30-year-old and one that he has described as the biggest of his career.When ‘The Baddy’ makes his famous Octagon walk for the Miami bout, UFC fans will be well adjusted to the tightly braided cornrows he emerges with, but it hasn’t always been that way.In stark contrast, Pimblett emerged into the UFC rocking a shaggy, bleach-blonde ‘mop top’ cut, reminiscent of The Beatles’ iconic style from the 1960s.
After winning his first four bouts in Dana White‘s promotion via stoppage, ‘The Baddy’ realised something had to change after his fight with Jared Gordon at UFC 282 in December 2022 went the distance.Pimblett was declared the winner, but several members of the MMA community questioned the decision, though you could have argued either way.One year later, the Merseyside-born star returned to the Octagon for a fight with MMA legend Tony Ferguson, who was nearing the end of his career.
This time, however, UFC fans had to look twice when Pimblett sported braids as he made his way to the fight.In a UFC 314 preview with Tom Aspinall, talkSPORT and TNT Sports pundit Adam Catterall explained why Pimblett made those changes.“One thing that you may have noticed is that he’s gone with the braids,” Catterall explained on Aspinall’s Fight Lab – a show that breaks down fights.
Pimblett braided his hair in the UFC to avoid it looking like he was getting hitGettyHe submitted King Green at UFC 301 in Manchester last July, and hasn’t fought sinceGetty“And the reason for that is: the old Paddy ‘The Baddy’ hair, whenever you get touched or not touched, if he’s moving his head it looks to the judges like he’s getting clipped.“So now he’s tied it back to make it look like a lot less..
.the aesthetics, the optics of the fight.”Pimblett believed that anytime he was dodging a punch during his fights, his long hair made it looked like he was taking more damage than he actually was.
So, ‘The Baddy’ made the tactical change and adapted, beating Ferguson by a convincing unanimous decision in his next fight, before submitting King Green at UFC Manchester in July – his last appearance to date.Pimblett addressed altering his signature style at UFC 296 after beating Ferguson.“It’s quite funny, because whenever I used to play Fight Night or the UFC game or anything like that, I’d always put cornrows on my character,” he said.
Pimblett has described his fight with Chandler as the biggest of his careerGetty“But the reason I’ve done it was because I’m sick of getting hit with little punches and left hooks and stuff like that and people would be, ‘He’s rocked! He’s rocked!’ “Like, nah, my hair just moved. I’m not rocked at all.”Pimblett is part of a stacked main card for UFC 314, which takes place at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning for UK fans.
The preliminary action is expected to get started at around 10pm UK time, with this fight starting at approximately 3am.After Pimblett takes centre stage, Alexander Volkanovski will have it out with Diego Lopes for the featherweight title that was vacated by Ilia Topuria in February.Beforehand, Yair Rodriguez fights UFC debutant and former two-division Bellator champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire, while Bryce Mitchell and Jean Silva also lock horns in an early Fight of the Night contender.
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