Former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has claimed that Paddy Pimblett’s questionable work ethic means that while he can be a marketable star, he won’t become a UFC champion.
A portly looking Pimblett was recently spotted wolfing down a triple-cheeseburger and revealed that he’s tipping the scales at 204lbs despite fighting at 155lbs, and according to Dillashaw that’s just not a recipe for success at the highest level.
“He’s just loving diabetes,” Dillashaw said on ‘The Schaub Show.’ “That’s like a recipe for destroying your body. I guess there’s one thing when I look at it: They can promote him the right way and do all this good stuff, and he’s got some stuff to grow and get into the higher echelons of the UFC, but if you keep that same work ethic that he has now, he’ll never be a champion.
“You can’t have that down time like that. You can’t get that fat. You can’t get out of shape. It just proves the dedication to what you need to do. I’m not trying to pound on him or anything, but that’s something I think he’s going to have to figure out with age. He’s young. It’s a full-time job. This isn’t just wanting to be a fighter; you have to be a fighter.”
Pimblett has quickly risen to prominence in the UFC thanks to his larger-than-life personality and back-to-back first-round wins in the Octagon so far, and is now scheduled to take on Jordan Leavitt at UFC Fight Night 211 in London on July 23rd.
As for Dillashaw, he’s eyeing a potential bantamweight title shot against Aljamain Sterling next, but is still rehabbing after undergoing knee surgery last year following a split decision win over Cory Sandhagen.
