Paddy Pimblett: The Scouse Factor

The dust has just about settled on an absolutely ridiculous weekend of MMA, which ranged from the sublime all the way to the downright bizarre. At UFC 203 we saw everything from flying side-kicks and false accusations, from broken bones to post-fight brawls and even the conclusion (or not?) of the tragic comedy of CM Punk.

Yet before the fans in Ohio had even had the chance to buy their foam fingers and hot dogs, a storm was raging on the other side of the Atlantic at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The UFC brass were watching closely – and Paddy Pimblett knew it.

Not that this affected the grinning 21-year-old, as he worked the Liverpool crowd up into a frenzy with his quintessential walkout – which is rapidly becoming an event in itself. You can’t help but smile when the mop-headed youngster makes his way to the cage bobbing up and down and clapping his hands to a house remix of “Heads Will Roll”, with the look of what Cage Warriors announcer Andy Friedlander described on the live BT Sport broadcast as someone who was “hosting a house party”. The madness didn’t stop there either; Paddy dusted off Johnny Frachey in the second minute of their contest with an aggressive combination that started with a characteristically reckless jumping round-kick, followed by a barrage of punches that earned him the Cage Warriors featherweight title. Needless to say, the amount of beer thrown in the arena at that moment could’ve fuelled Tank Abbott for about a year.

This all sounds rather familiar doesn’t it? A young featherweight Cage Warriors champion with a rabid hometown following and a never-ending torrent of bombastic speeches regarding his own abilities and his plans for world domination. Yes, the comparisons to Conor McGregor are undeniable in this culture of hero-worship. Unlike Conor even has a stable of very high level teammates behind him at Next Generation MMA including the likes of Cage Warriors Lightweight Champion Chris Fishgold, and UFC welterweight Danny Roberts. Towns and countries need their champions and with this world title victory Paddy Pimblett has proven that he is just that. However the question that we and the UFC bosses have in mind still remains: can this kid be a mainstream superstar internationally?

His fighting style definitely lends itself to being a fan favourite. He has only been to three decisions in his 12-1 career, and has finished 10 of his 12 wins inside the distance. He also has a flair for flamboyance as evidenced by his two flying triangle wins, one of which he earned in just his second pro fight at 18 years old. Paddy does have a tendency to get hurt early in the fight, but this may only work in his favour as he’s displayed an excellent ability to recover and quickly re-assert his dominance. Being so young he’s also improved in leaps and bounds as a striker in a short amount of time (just ask Johnny Frachey), so his reputation as a phenomenal grappler is now being coupled with the threat of dangerous skills on the feet. It’s very likely that Paddy has the skills to be competitive in the UFC, it’s hard to see exactly how high his ceiling is but as we’ve learned – talk can get you a long way in this game, and Paddy can talk with the best of them.

This brings us to one genuine area of concern that I have with the Paddy Parade coming to the UFC. Will the Americans actually be able to understand him? It sounds silly but Paddy’s Scouse accent is as thick as treacle and the UFC have a history of struggling with British regional dialects. Fellow Scouser Terry Etim had all of his pre-fight interviews accompanied with subtitles, and Sunderland boy Ross Pearson was given the subtitle treatment for two entire seasons of the Ultimate Fighter. Conor didn’t suffer too badly with this problem as most Americans are boisterously proud of their Irish links and are familiar enough with the accent for it to be more of a novelty rather than a difficulty. However I’m sure that unless you mentioned the words “The Beatles” to most Americans, they’d probably be just as easily convinced that Paddy’s accent derives from fucking Westeros.

However, having a whole city behind you means a lot and I’m sure the Americans will get used to the accent eventually. Paddy has also hitched a ride on the hype train and called out McGregor in a claim which has picked up momentum, with the aptly named Paddy Power offering 5/1 odds on a charity bet for Pimblett to beat the UFC champion before the year 2020. There was also the hilarious incident at the Europa League Final back in May in which Liverpool fans lifted a banner with the words “McGregor – You’re Getting Smoked Lad” above a picture of Paddy’s face. Provided he can keep winning, Paddy’s outlandish yet genuine persona as a happy-go-lucky nutcase is exactly the kind of recipe that the UFC needs to create a young British star. His boyish looks and shaggy blonde barnet will do wonders for public perception in country where MMA is still better known by the public as “cage fighting”, a sport in which steroid fuelled savages beat each other to death – perhaps over mating rights or caravan ownership.

While at this point a UFC contact almost seems to be a foregone conclusion for Paddy Pimblett, fulfilling his wild ambitions is going to require winning over fans at both home and abroad. Judging by the atmosphere in Liverpool on Saturday night, we can safely say he’s going the right way about it.