UFC boss Dana White laid out his plans to have Paddy Pimblett fight in either Boston or New York next, but 'The Baddy' has explained why he won't fight in The Big Apple.
Pimblett picked up his third successive UFC win by submitting Jordan Leavitt at UFC London last weekend. It marked the Liverpudlian's second win in the English capital this year having previously submitted Kazula Vargas in March. Pimblett insisted after the win that he wouldn't be fighting in the UK again until the UFC hold an event at Anfield Stadium, the home of his beloved Liverpool FC.
In his UFC debut last September, Pimblett knocked out Luigi Vendramini in Las Vegas. The card was supposed to take place in London but was moved stateside because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Pimblett has fought twice at The O2 arena and despite insisting his next fight will not take place in the UK, he admitted he doesn't want to fight in New York because of the tax rate in the state.
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After Pimblett's sidekick Molly McCann impressively knocked out Hannah Goldy at the UFC London event, she said post-fight: "I wanted to fight in November at Madison Square Garden but he [Pimblett] doesn't want to fight until December." Pimblett then replied: "No, I'm not getting taxed but New York, swear down."
UFC boss White admitted that now is the right time to book Pimblett on a pay-per-view event in the US having only fought on fight-night events so far. “I think what we do next is we take him to either Boston or New York and he ends up on pay-per-view and then you bring him to Vegas," White said. The UFC does not have a pay-per-view event scheduled in Boston, but the promotion will hold a New York pay-per-view in November.
Pimblett, who agreed that his next fight should be on pay-per-view, is confident he can get White to change his mind on holding an Anfield event, stating: "I know for a fact now I’ll be fighting on pay-per-views with Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier commentating. We will do Anfield. I promise you now. Dana said he won’t do Anfield, but he also said women will never fight in the UFC, and Ronda Rousey came along. He said he won’t do a stadium in the UK, but the Baddy’s come along so he will.”