Paddy Pimblett’s dislike for Jordan Leavitt has grown exponentially heading into UFC London.
The lightweight matchup will take place on the main card of Saturday’s event at the O2 Arena — which serves as the second time the promotion has hosted a fight card in the venue this year.
With the fight only days away, “The Baddy”, as he is now calling himself, couldn’t help but express his current feelings about Leavitt.
“He’s pissed me off,” Pimblett told reporters at the UFC London media day. “When the fight got announced, I really didn’t mind him. He had 12,000 followers, now he has 30,000 just off the back of my name, and the people who don’t like me. Because people don’t like him, he has lots of followers.
“He may talk all he likes, but he also knows that if the cage door is shut, I will take his head with me.
“He’s only ever fought in the APEX. He has never fought elsewhere. He has never fought in a fight with a crowd. Now he is fighting for my team. His head’s going to fall off, and I think it might be the first time someone ever s**** themselves in the octagon, [or] the first time they’ll ever have to mop s*** up off the floor.”
The build-up to the fight was interesting with both fighters making digs at how they have been dealt to to reach this stage. This continued Wednesday. Leavitt predicts that he will finish the Cage Warriors former fighter, then “twerk”, but Pimblett plans his own celebration .”
“He’s being a little weirdo like he is, but no one can out-weird me. Pimblett stated that he is more bizarre than anyone.
” I’m going teabag him. Without the ref screaming at me, I will squat down as close as possible to his head. Just squat up and down like I’m on Modern Warfare 2.
“I’m going to come out and I’m going to take his head off,” Pimblett continued. “I’m not going to be shooting no takedowns. I will stand beside him, and take his head off. I will take his chin with me. He can’t throw a punch to save his life, he really can’t. He doesn’t come into fights to win, he comes into fights not to lose. Try and take me down and sniff my balls for three rounds, that’s not going to work.”
Leavitt is 3-1 in his UFC run since earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, with the lone loss coming to one of the lightweight division’s dark horse contenders in Claudio Puelles in June 2021. Since then, the 27-year-old bounced back with an inverted triangle submission win at UFC Vegas 45 in December, and a split decision win over Trey Ogden at UFC Vegas 51 in April.
Pimblett won a pair first-round submission victories to start his tenure in the octagon over Luigi Vendramini, Rodrigo Vargas and Rodrigo Vargas. The latter was at the UFC London March event.
To say that Pimblett isn’t impressed by Leavitt’s resume would be an understatement.
“He is an absolute crab,” Pimblett stated during UFC London’s media day. He can’t even throw a punch that would save his life. He’s talking s***, and that’s mad. I can’t believe he’s talking s*** about my opponents. That Trey Ogden lad, my nan’s dead and she’d finish him.
” He’s an idiot. He reverse triangulated a child who is quite a heavy featherweight. His ground game’s terrible, [the fact] he got twistered by Bryce Mitchell says it all. Matt Wiman needs to be retired. Matt Wiman was on The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 and that was when I was 15.. After I beat Jordan, I would beat Matt Wiman.”
