Outside Source
Cage Warriors poster boy Paddy Pimblett expects to face the winner of tonight’s lightweight title tussle between Mason Jones and Joe McColgan, but “The Baddy” is keen to make an example of Decky Dalton before that.
The celebrated Liverpudlian has had three separate opponents for Cage Warriors 113 tonight in Manchester, England. After Donovan Desmae withdrew from their third scheduled meeting, Pimblett’s next foe Davide Martinez was forced from proceedings when the Italian coronavirus quarantine wouldn’t allow him to travel to the event.
Now booked to meet Ireland’s Decky Dalton, after having his last would-be outing against Joe Giannetti cancelled at the eleventh hour, Pimblett is just content to end an 18-month run of inactivity.
“That’s exactly how I felt – cursed,” Pimblett told MMA Fighting, reflecting on when he thought the coronavirus would extend his spell of dormancy.
“I was thinking, ‘What is happening here?’ I just couldn’t believe it could be happening after the last one, but that would be just my luck at the moment. ‘This could only happen to me,’ is what I was thinking, but credit to Cage Warriors for keeping the show on the road.”
Given Pimblett’s stock and his status as a former champion, people may have thought he would be the first name thrust forward for a short-notice title challenge. However, as he pointed out, with his history of selling out venues and gaining international traction, maybe it wasn’t the best business move for Cage Warriors to add him to the impromptu championship banner.
“Of course it was going through my head, but if I’m fighting for a title they’ll want to promote it – they’d want to make a bit of a song and dance about it. That’s why they wouldn’t give me a title shot because they would’ve had only had six days to build it and it’s happening behind closed doors!” he said, laughing. “They definitely don’t want my title fight to happen behind closed doors.”
Pimblett, however, has a vested interest in the clash between Jones and McColgan:
“Hats off to the lads for getting a title shot – I’m intrigued. I don’t dislike either of them, it’s a good fight. I’ve been speaking to both Mason and Joe and whoever wins wins, people are saying this is a Fight of the Year contender and I just hope it lives up to that. I don’t even know if I’ll still be in the building for it because I’m only [living] 25 minutes down the road!”
Pimblett, media, and fans seem to agree that he will get a shot at the winner of the championship clash, but he will have to get through Dalton to make that happen. Although some Irish fans predict that “The Baddy” will be in for a rude awakening when he gets into the cage tonight, the former champion is confident he’ll prove that he’s in a different league than the Fighting Academy Ireleand fighter.
“There’s a big difference [when you look at our records]. I wouldn’t have taken this fight if I wasn’t in this situation. Have you seen his latest fight against that crab the other night? How did he tap out to that with his back against the cage? To finish that choke usually you need to flat on your back. That guy was just in there for the payday,” he said.
“There’s levels to this sh*t and he’s just not on my level and I’m going to show that. He gets finished in the first, mark my words.”
Check out this week’s Eurobash for a comprehensive Cage Warriors 113 preview featuring Graham Boylan and Joe McColgan.
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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