Pimblett: Lobov would be a “perfect” opponent for my UFC debut

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett brought a lot of attention on to himself last year after winning the FCC title when he claimed he would “smoke” SBG duo Conor McGregor and Artem Lobov.

Since then, he has added two wins to his 10-1 record that announced him as one of the most coveted European names outside of the UFC. Given his status as one of the next men from the UK to given an Octagon debut, Pimblett explained to SevereMMA.com why Artem Lobov would be a “perfect” debut for him to announce himself under the UFC banner.

“I would love to beat Lobov up,” said Pimblett when asked whether he would like to meet ‘The Russian Hammer’ in the Octagon.

“I know, and most people in UK MMA know, how much of any easy fight Artem Lobov is for me. It’s not even a fight, it’s a one-sided demolition job. It would take me about a minute and a half to get rid of him, just like it took Alex Enlund. I’d put him to sleep or I’d break his arm for him.”

“The more I think about it, that would be a perfect first fight in the UFC. Do you know why? I know that would be 50k in the bank straight away. I would definitely get a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus out of that fight. It’s easy money. He wouldn’t get a thing off on me. It would be me proving something to a lot of Irish people who believe in Lobov’s hype because he’s in with McGregor.

“People think Artem Lobov is the real deal and he’s not. He’s terrible. He’s only in the UFC because of Conor McGregor. It’s as simple as that.”

As for when his UFC debut is going to come, Pimblett is in the dark. However, he insisted that he would debut “this weekend” if the call came through from the world’s flagship MMA promotion.

“I’d debut this weekend if they had a fight there for me. If they needed someone to step in at featherweight or lightweight I’d step in and I’d win. Obviously, I’d like to get signed sooner rather than later so I can start earning some real money because you don’t earn anything on this UK MMA scene. I want to earn a living.”

Pimblett grows more and more into his featherweight frame each time his competes, and the Liverpudlian thinks he could end up contesting bouts at welterweight if he continues to grow.

“I could finish up my career as a welterweight. I’m only 21 at the minute and I can still make featherweight. In the next two years, I think I will be a lightweight. I’m quite tall and not as small as I was anymore.

“(Ashleigh) Grimshaw was wider than me, but I think I’m quite wide as well. Everyone thought that Grimshaw was going to have too much strength for me and he was going to overpower me, but I made him look like a little boy when I was on top of him. He had nothing for me. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I was just pushing him onto his back.”

For years, a lot of people thought that even the best European prospects would run into serious trouble when they began to contest bouts in the US. Despite his intentions to claim a victory over ‘The Notorious’, Pimblett is adamant that the Irishman has proven that European fighters can scale to the very top of the sport.

“The talent pool isn’t deeper (in the US) and Conor McGregor proved that. Some of the other European guys that went in before him made us look worse. They just weren’t as good. They weren’t complete MMA fighters like he is. We’re all like that now. Any guys coming in from the UK now are just as good as the US guys.

“I’m a different breed to all of them in the UFC and any one that’s going to get signed in the future. There’s no one like me. I’m going to become a legend in this sport and I’m going to make history.”

@PetesyCarroll