1 week Ago By Patrick Austen-Hardy
Paddy Pimblett has boldly declared that a showdown with Conor McGregor would be the most monumental event in UFC history. The 30-year-old is set to take on Michael Chandler at UFC 314 on April 13 , featuring as the co-main event alongside Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes.
The Liverpudlian fighter has rapidly risen to prominence within the UFC, drawing parallels to McGregor's ascent. Known for his brash and captivating presence on the mic, Pimblett has left fans both stunned and entertained, while also boasting an undefeated streak of six victories in the UFC. Despite holding a former Cage Warriors Featherweight title, he has yet to secure a championship in the Octagon.
Pimblett is confident that a victory over Chandler – who was slated to face McGregor at UFC 303 in June last year before McGregor withdrew due to injury – would pave the way for a match against the ex-UFC featherweight and lightweight champion. In a conversation with Round Eight Boxing back in February, when quizzed about the possibility of squaring off with McGregor, the vibrant lightweight said: "Sounds very tasty. A lot of people have said this to me already.
"'Beat Chandler, take the McGregor fight'. Obviously, it's the biggest fight in the sport, the biggest fight we've ever seen." The thought of McGregor and Pimblett trading verbal jabs would whip up excitement among fans.
However, Pimblett's assertion that their potential bout would be the "biggest fight we've ever seen" might ruffle some feathers in the fighting community. Should McGregor return to the Octagon, he'd be entering his first MMA bout since his leg break against Dustin Poirier back in 2021. With no championship at stake, McGregor's comeback fight after hard training for the scrapped UFC 303 clash against Chandler leads to a stark fact: McGregor has yet to secure a victory since his triumph over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in 2020.
McGregor's activities had already been on pause for two years after submitting to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. Adding to potential UFC fan exasperation are the prolonged negotiations that preceded the eventual downfall of his expected bout with Chandler, which was first expected to take place in 2023. Chandler himself opted out of the waiting game, choosing instead to fight Charles Oliveira, albeit ending up defeated by unanimous decision.
The ex-Bellator titleholder even suggested that Pimblett could be a greater threat than McGregor at this stage, according to remarks he made to Instant Casino. He said: "You might talk to a lot of people from a fight perspective that [think] Paddy might be more dangerous than Conor at this point. We haven't seen Conor in three years, [but] name wise? Yeah, you're not gonna get a bigger name than Conor.
" Last year, White was adamant that UFC fans will see McGregor fight before the close of 2025. Without putting a close time-frame on it, White said: "I wasn't 100 per cent in 2024, but I am in 2025. I just am.
I know more than you guys know. I'm 100 per-cent confident McGregor will fight next year.".
