Molly McCann has praised her UFC sidekick Paddy Pimblett for his intense training schedule following his return to Liverpool.
Pimblett, 27, has spent the last two months in America but has returned to his gym Next Generation MMA as he prepares for a likely return fight in December. 'The Baddy' has expressed interest in fighting at UFC 282 on December 10 in Las Vegas, which will mark his first pay-per-view event in the promotion.
The Liverpudlian is unbeaten in his first three UFC fights and most recently submitted Jordan Leavitt at UFC London in July, marking his second win in the English capital having tapped out Kazula Vargas at The O2 arena in March. Pimblett currently weighs 198lb just over eight weeks out from his potential return date, with his sidekick McCann revealing that he is training for three hours a day.
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"Full, happy, nice and tanned," McCann said of Pimblett in one of his recent YouTube videos. "I think you need to miss the sport to come back and give it the level that me and him do. Even though he's trained in America, there's nothing quite like this gym, so I think he's buzzing to be back. He's a bit of a freak to be honest, because he'll train for three hours now, it's his mindset. We've missed him, the family's back. It's just back to business now."
McCann has a big fight of her own lined up as she looks to climb further up the women's flyweight rankings when she faces Erin Blanchfield at UFC 281 on November 12 in New York. It marks the first time Pimblett hasn't competed on the same event as McCann in his UFC career, with 'The Baddy' previously stating he didn't want to fight in New York because of the state's high tax rate.
Pimblett's head coach Paul Rimmer said 'The Baddy' is looking sharp despite his lengthy holiday in the US as he was training everyday in San Diego. "The first steps are easing back into training a little bit for this first week," he said. "Paddy's grappling is that good, it just like kicks in, he hasn't left it.
"Me and Ellis [Hampson] had sat down and wrote some stuff that we wanted him to work on when he got back, we haven't got an opponent but we've got a potential date so we just start aiming everything towards then. Since he was like 14 or 15 he's barely missed a day of training, even when he was in San Diego he's still training. He trains everyday, he knows what he's got to put in."
