Why is Paddy Pimblett not fighting at UFC London? Brit star's absence explained

22 July 2023 , 09:00

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Why is Paddy Pimblett not fighting at UFC London? Brit star's absence explained

Paddy Pimblett is not fighting at UFC London tonight because a foot injury has ruled him out for the remainder of the year.

'The Baddy' hasn't fought since tearing his ankle when he controversially beat Jared Gordon at UFC 282 last December. Fans labelled the fight as "one of the worst UFC decisions ever" as Pimblett limped his way out of the octagon on the night and later underwent surgery for his grade two injury.

Pimblett has now been forced out of two UFC London events as he missed the pay-per-view headlined by Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman's trilogy fight in March, also missing this Saturday's fight night event that is headlined by Tom Aspinall vs Marcin Tybura. Pimblett did appear in the English capital for a Q&A with media and fans though, giving an update about his ankle.

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"When you have a couple of months out of the gym, the first thing you want to do is just back in there," Pimblett said. "I can do a little bit of everything now: striking, MMA and jiu-jitsu. I know my right calf isn't as strong as my left calf, so the first opportunity I'm getting I'll go to the PI [Performance Institute] and do some work on it with the professionals."

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Pimblett's sidekick Molly McCann will be in action on the UFC London card as she takes on Julija Stoliarenko in the co-main event. 'The Baddy' is known for piling on a ton of weight after his fights, ballooning up to massive 206.6lb after tapping out Jordan Leavitt last July. Pimblett wants to start being disciplined with his diet and keep his weight around 185lb.

"I'm going to try and keep my weight down," he added. "I never want to try and go above 86kg again. I'm hovering around 84kg at the moment, but it's just much better and much healthier. I can sit here and say it all I want, it's easier said than done but we will see if end up looking like a big fatty after my next fight.

"You're going to see a different version of me, I want to fight towards the back end of this year but if I can't then it will probably be here [The O2 arena] in March next year. I won't be going into another fight injured, that's for sure. I'm going to get that sorted so I go into the next fight 100 per cent and I won't have any excuses after it, because I had a few after my last fight."

Harry Davies