Paddy Pimblett has been ruled out of a fight at UFC 286 in London as he will need to undergo surgery on his ankle.
'The Baddy' injured his ankle last month during his controversial decision win against Jared Gordon at UFC 282 in Las Vegas.
Gordon landed more punches than Pimblett across three rounds and took the Scouse fighter down three times, notching up over six minutes of control time. Despite this, all three judges scored the fight in favour of Pimblett as he picked up his fourth successive UFC win.
Pimblett limped out of the cage in pain due to his ankle injury, something he suspects happened when Gordon threw his first leg kick in the fight. During a recent vlog on his YouTube channel, Pimblett gets his ankle checked up by a local doctor and is given some bad news.
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"Looks like you have got a small amount of cartilage, the other thing you've got is all this white stuff around here, that's all fluid and what all the swelling is. When we look at the ligaments which joins from your fibula, you've probably got what we call a grade two injury," the doctor tells Pimblett. The Scouser will undergo surgery for his injury in March and with UFC 286 also taking place that month, it's safe to say Pimblett won't be competing at the event.
Pimblett competed at both UFC London events last year, tapping out Kazula Vargas in March and Jordan Leavitt in July. 'The Baddy' is yet to face a ranked opponent in the UFC and has admitted he likely won't win a world title in the promotion for another three years. UFC legend Michael Bisping thinks Pimblett needs to "humble himself" after his latest fight and hasn't warranted the praise his self-praise.
"I think what Paddy needs to do is just humble himself a little bit,” Bisping said on his podcast. "Stop with this ‘I’m the new cash cow’ s****. When I asked him who would he want to fight next, ‘I don’t need to say anyone’s name because I am the man. I’m the boy, I’m the cash cow.’ And you’re yet to fight someone ranked.
"When you’re dominating people, it’s all well and good. When you’re scraping by a victory, it doesn’t have the same effect, and it starts to rub people off the wrong way. Nobody in the top ten, certainly in the top five, needs Paddy to give them a rub. Dustin Poirier, Islam Makhachev, Charles Oliveira, these are household names in mixed martial arts."
