Dan Hardy thinks Paddy Pimblett has the potential to be a bigger star than Conor McGregor.
This past Saturday, Pimblett turned in the best performance of his UFC career, submitting Jordan Leavitt on the main card of UFC London. While Pimblett was not the main event of the card, “The Baddy” was undeniably the most popular fight competing this past weekend.
One of the UFC’s fastest rising stars, the Liverpudlian has drawn numerous comparisons to McGregor. But Hardy suggests those comparisons aren’t fair for a number of reasons — including the chance that Pimblett could be bigger than McGregor some day.
“I think they’re in different places, and it’s difficult to compare the two of them,” Hardy said this week on The MMA Hour. “But you could certainly see it building to a superfight at some point, just not anywhere near it right now. Conor’s up near the top of the top of the division, Paddy’s got to build himself into that position.
” I would like to see Paddy put more emphasis on his belt than the superfights, since he is in an extremely strong place where he can become much better than Conor McGregor. It’s hard for us to visualize that, but it’s not impossible. We couldn’t even imagine Conor McGregor walking out of Cage Warriors .”
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McGregor is the biggest star in the history of MMA, and like Pimblett, he came into the UFC with a fan base already behind him after building his name in Cage Warriors. It is not easy to surpass McGregor.
While Pimblett’s first trio of fights inside the octagon have been impressive, they’re a far cry from McGregor’s initial run in the UFC, something Hardy concedes. The former UFC commentator and one-time challenger for the welterweight title, Pimblett also believes that Pimblett isn’t fighting with his “Notorious .”
” inner fighter.
” Particularly because brands shift and change,” Hardy stated. “Conor’s not the same. It’s harder to find him as an attractive person than he was at the start of his career. When people have been through difficult times, it’s easier to connect with them. Now, he’s living on yachts and stuff.
” I believe he is very distant from his fans and people will tune into him because he entertains. But I think people will follow Paddy to a much longer degree than they have done Conor, because I don’t think Paddy’s going to fall off in the same way that Conor did and find himself in handcuffs.”
McGregor certainly has had some issues, which frustrated him and maybe drove away his fans. But ultimately, he solidified his stardom with victories over some of the best fighters on the planet. Pimblett is being a brought along much more slowly, and according to Hardy, that’s a good thing.
“I don’t think he’s ready for a step up,” Hardy said. Dan Hooker is a huge step up. “You’ve got think some of the killers that he’s been in there with and the experience that he has. Paddy, yes, he’s got three big wins in the UFC, big because of the way that they resonated with the fans, but not big because they were perfect or potential world beaters in their own right. For the position he is at, he has fought against the correct level of opponent. …
” We don’t have to name him a star right away. Just because he’s a developing star, it doesn’t mean he’s at the technical level yet to start taking on some of those big challenges. There is still a lot of room for improvement in his game. We may see him fight those well-known names for a few more 12 weeks.
Pimblett faces major obstacles in his division, even though he has grown over the years. McGregor rose to the top of a featherweight category that was dominated by Jose Aldo for many years. He needed new competitors. Many consider lightweight the hardest weight division in the sport. This means that Pimblett could have a long road to the title. But Hardy said Pimblett does have the major advantage of being wildly popular, and that, plus being very talented, is enough to give him a legitimate shot.
” I believe he is in the hardest division. But, what McGregor has shown us is that marketability can create opportunities for you to grow in the right direction. Hardy agreed. “You look at some people’s careers in the lightweight division and you think, my goodness, how did that guy never get a title shot after going through that line of killers? Then you look at other people and think, “How is that person already in the top five?”
“It is not necessarily meritocracy. The UFC as we know it, has a marketability. Paddy is very marketable. If he makes the UFC a lot of money, they’ll help that path through to the belt. He brings chaos .”
to the UFC, and I think he can win with anyone you place him there.
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