Paddy Pimblett's excessive weight gain has been questioned by several fighters, but UFC veteran Donald Cerrone thinks the rising star has earned his right to binge eat.
Pimblett, who is a self-declared 'foodie', has never had trouble making the lightweight limit and even used to fight at featherweight during his days fighting in Cage Warriors. 'The Baddy' weighed in at 155lb for his most recent win, but just two weeks later he stepped on the scale at over 200lb after indulging on junk food.
The Liverpudlian's binge eating habits have been criticised by fighters such as his upcoming opponent Jordan Leavitt and boxing legend Ricky Hatton. However, Cerrone, who fights Joe Lauzon on Saturday, doesn't see a problem with Pimblett's weight gain given he has no issue making the weight.
"He’s still young, he’s got it. If that’s what he wants to do," Cerrone, 39, told reporters of Pimblett, 27. "The only problem with him getting big like that is it sucks because the first part of your camp goes to losing the weight and you’re just battling that but he’s still young and learning and playing.
"I mean s***, go do it. Get big. If you like pizza and lasagna and beer, eat it, brother because you earned it. Just do your s*** then it just sucks but (shrugs)."
Pimblett showed off his fridge stacked with junk food after his win at UFC London in March, but he has now started his diet ahead of his fight next month. Another fighter to bash Pimblett is former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw, who thinks 'The Baddy' will "never be a champion".
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"That's like a recipe for just destroying your body. I guess there's one thing if I'm looking at it. They can promote him the right way and he might have what it takes to get into the higher echelons of the UFC, but if you keep that some work ethic he has now, then he'll never be UFC champion," Dillashaw said on The Schaub Show.
"You can't have that down time like that, you can't get that fat and out of shape. It just proves the dedication you need to do what you do. I'm not trying to clown on him but that's something he's going to have to figure out with age, right? He's young and this is a full-time job. This isn't a job where you want to be a fighter. You have to be a fighter."
