Paddy Pimblett can’t fault Michael Chandler for doing everything possible to win even if that sometimes skirts the rules.
Ahead of their five-round co-main event showdown at UFC 314 in April, Pimblett addressed accusations aimed at Chandler from past opponents that he goes out of his way to cheat during fights. Justin Gaethje claimed “pretty much everything” Chandler does outside the rules during his fights deserves point deductions while Dustin Poirier routinely slams the former Bellator champion for sticking fingers in his mouth when they fought back in 2022.
For his part, Pimblett doesn’t seem overly concerned about the issue and he actually faults the referee for not doing his job catching Chandler in the act and penalizing him for it. A perfect example was Chandler nearly pulling off a late comeback against Charles Oliveira this past November when he threw several punches that appeared to land to the back of the head but the referee did nothing and just allowed the action to continue.
“If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,” Pimblett said about Chandler when speaking to UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik. “You know what I mean? That’s on the ref. If he’s just throwing hammer fists at the back of Charles Oliveira’s head, Charles had the need to move his head or the ref needs to say something to him.
“I did watch that fight. He does hammer fist him about 12 times to the back of the head and he knows what he’s doing!”
Pimblett says part of the responsibility falls back on Oliveira as well for not moving out of the way or at least complaining to the referee about what was happening.
“If I was in that position and I’m Charles, I’m saying ref, what are you doing here?” Pimblett said. “Like that was some bad refereeing right there.”
Now the situation that Poirier dealt with was different because he openly admitted that he bit down on Chandler’s fingers when those went in his mouth during the fight. Poirier believes he would have lopped off one of Chandler’s digits if not for the mouthguard he was wearing during the fight.
Pimblett promises if that happens during his fight at UFC 314 that he’ll do the exact same thing to Chandler so consider that a fair warning ahead of time.
“Obviously, I’ve seen the Poirier one as well,” Pimblett said. “Poirier saying he tried to fish hook him to get the choke and stuff like that. I’ll do the same thing as Poirier if that happens. I’ll bite his fingers, try to cut it off with my teeth.”
For all the flack that Chandler catches from his past opponents for allegedly operating outside the rules from time to time, Pimblett isn’t all that concerned that it might play a part in their fight.
If anything, Pimblett might actually commend Chandler for doing anything and everything in his power to win the fight.
“I always say if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,” Pimblett said with a laugh.
As far as his actually prediction for the fight, Pimblett sees himself winning but he’s not exactly sure how it happens. He knows for certain that Chandler is going to come out gunning for the knockout and that should open up a lot of potential opportunities for him to return fire.
“He comes out and he tries to absolutely take your head off, swinging overhands, left hooks and that’s all anyone’s tried to do against me and knock me out and no one’s ever knocked me out,” Pimblett said. “Michael Chandler’s not going to be the first person to.
“Just like last time, I think I’m going to keep him on the end of my range, I’m going to kick him, frustrate him, and I do think I could land the knockout blow as he steps in. Like a punch, a knee, a kick, an elbow, and as he steps in, he leans all of his weight forward and leans into a shot, I think I could knock him out. I also think I could TKO him with leg kicks. I don’t think he’s going to try and take me down. He knows I’ll submit him.”
