In his next fight in the Octagon, British lightweight sensation Paddy Pimblett may already have a good opponent. The ‘Baddie’ welcomed the callout Matt Frevola made after beating Drew Dober by knockout at UFC 288 despite a lingering injury that prevents him from training.
At UFC 288, Frevola called out Pimblett
In his brief talk to Joe Rogan, Frevola did not waste the chance to call out one of the most prominent names in his division in Pimblett. In fact, taking a page out of Chael Sonnen’s book, Matt started the callout with the same words the former UFC middleweight contender used to get Anderson Silva’s attention in his post-fight interview at UFC 136, in October 2011.
“Paddy Pimblett, you absolutely suck,” Frevola said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Stop being a b-tch and let’s fight. You’re on a four-fight win streak. I’m on a three-fight win streak. If you’re in the UFC, you can’t pick and choose your fights. You’ve got to fight who the fans want to see you fight.”
An ankle injury has sidelined Paddy Pimblett
Though Pimblett welcomes the matchup, saying it is an advantageous one for him, he has not yet been cleared to train. He was sidelined due to an ankle injury he sustained in December 2022 against Jared Gordon, which required surgery to heal. In response to a few comments about Frevola’s callout and his view of the matchup, Paddy posted on his official Instagram account.
“Bit of a weird time to call me out when I can’t even train,” Pimblett responded in a recent Instagram post. “But (yes) I’d fight Frevola when I’m back, probably the easiest route into the top 15.”
“I’ll get back in the gym when I can pal,” Pimblett said. “For now, the doctors have told me I cannot train.”
The injury could sideline Pimplett for the remainder of 2023, according to an interview with Sky Sports. However, the Baddie tries to remain hopeful for a faster recovery. Nevertheless, he said he would consider himself lucky if he could still step into the Octagon this year.
“I had to get surgery after my last fight,” Pimblett said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Last fight, I hurt my foot in the first round, in like the first minute or two, threw a kick, hurt it. I felt it, like, but obviously, we crack on, we get through the fight. At the end of the fight, I remember going back to the medical room and being just saying, ‘My foot’s sore.’
“Couldn’t get it looked at properly until I got home. Then, when the actual swelling went down, I didn’t know when to get surgery. It was a lot worse than we thought. I had to get inner and outer-ligament surgery, well reconstruction, so, it’s big.”
In the UFC, Paddy Pimblett is undefeated
It was in December 2022 that Paddy Pimblett (20-3) won his fourth straight UFC fight by a unanimous decision over Jared Gordon. In addition to that, the 28-year-old has also defeated Jordan Leavitt, Rodrigo Vargas, and Luigi Vendramini since joining the promotion. In September 2018, the Brit lost a unanimous decision to Soren Bak.
With a knockout win over Dober at UFC 288, Frevola (11-3-1) has made it three in a row. Prior to this, the 32-year-old had also defeated Ottman Azaitar and Genaro Valdez by KO, respectively, in November and January 2022. Since losing to Terrance McKinney in June 2021, the ‘Steamrolla’ hasn’t lost a match.
