After his controversial unanimous decision win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282 on Saturday night, Paddy Pimblett told reporters that he was annoyed people were saying he didn’t deserve to win, but nonetheless it seems that other UFC stars are convinced the result was a robbery.
“I’m pretty pissed off to be honest, Joe Rogan came in and said that was a close fight,” Pimblett told reporters at the post-fight presser. “What are you on about that it was a close fight? Is everyone smoking proper heavy kush or something? What’s everyone on about? I won! All that matters when you look back in the history books is that I’ve got a green mark, a ‘W’ next to my name. It wasn’t a split decision. It was a unanimous decision. I’m pretty pissed off, to be honest, that people think I lost. It’s annoying me, it’s annoying me a lot.”
Anybody wondering who Rogan really thought won only needs to watch his look of disbelief when the decision was read out in Pimblett’s favor.
Rogan was far from the only one though, with his fellow color commentators Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz also making it clear that they believe Pimblett shouldn’t have had his hand raised.
“I thought Paddy Pimblett lost, I really did,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I thought Jared Gordon won the third round, I felt Jared Gordon won the first round. They’re putting a lot less emphasis on Octagon control, especially against the side of the cage. Jared Gordon did not land much in the third round when he was clinching Paddy Pimblett, and I don’t know why. They don’t really give much credence to that anymore, and Pimblett landed more significant strikes in Round 3 even though that was only like two significant strikes, because Gordon was able to press him up against the side of the Octagon so much. Many said this would be the toughest test to date for Paddy Pimblett, and it absolutely proved to be just that.”
“HUGE L for our judges on that 1 #UFC282,” Cruz wrote on Twitter.
Cruz even went as far as to quiz Pimblett as to whether he really believed he won the fight during an interview later that night, pointing out that Gordon has 6-and-a-half minutes of control time in a 15 minute fight.
Meanwhile, former middleweight champion Chris Weidman was one of many who couldn’t understand the result, or Pimblett’s defiant reaction to it.
“Anyone else confused right now ?” Weidman wrote on Twitter. “I thought Jared 100 percent one but more shocking than that decision is paddy’s confidence that it wasn’t even a close fight 🤦♂️ what’s happening ??”
“Why the judges did my guy @JFlashGordonMMA like that??? 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️😭😢🥺🤔🤔🤔👀👀👀👀 #ufc282,” former welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns asked.
“Bruh? You lost that fight 👊🏼,” Nate Diaz declared.
The fighters weren’t the only ones who though Gordon should have won though as according to MMADecisions, virtually every media outlet had also scored the fight in his favor.
Nonetheless, Paddy ‘The Baddy’ now has four wins in a row inside the UFC’s Octagon, and with that will likely come a step up in competition at some stage in 2023, and so he’ll have to bring his A-game next year to prove his growing band of critics wrong.
