5 reasons why the rise of Paddy Pimblett cannot be compared to the rise of Conor McGregor

#4. Paddy Pimblett is fighting in a far more loaded division than Conor McGregor was

Paddy Pimblett is competing in arguably the UFC's most loaded division

While it’s hard to talk down Conor McGregor’s wins over the likes of Dustin Poirier and Chad Mendes, a common criticism of his rise to the top was that the UFC rushed him to a title shot against Jose Aldo.

However, the truth is that at the time that ‘The Notorious’ climbed to the top, the featherweight division wasn’t really the most loaded that the promotion had to offer.

At the time of his fights with them, while Poirier and Dennis Siver were both highly-ranked fighters, it’s probably fair to say that neither man was genuinely at the elite level. ‘The Diamond’ hadn’t reached his prime, while Siver was largely a tough gatekeeper at best.

Despite this, it wasn’t like McGregor leapfrogged any obvious contenders to get his shots at Mendes and then Aldo. The fact that he fought them so quickly into his UFC tenure was more a mark of how thin the division was at the time.

Paddy Pimblett, by contrast, is clearly fighting in one of the UFC’s most loaded divisions, the lightweight class.

Not only is the top 10 of the division full of killers, but there are a seemingly endless number of incredibly talented fighters competing at 155 pounds, meaning that ‘The Baddy’ will probably have his hands full with whoever he’s matched with.

That means that there won’t be any shortcuts for him to climb to the top of the division in as rapid a time as McGregor did, even if he fights almost as well as the Irishman. In turn, that renders any comparison to their respective rises pointless.

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#3. Paddy Pimblett may not have an entire country behind him

Paddy Pimblett's love for Liverpool FC may hamper his popularity in some parts of the UK

One of the most unique aspects about Conor McGregor's rise was the fact that, unlike many prospects in the UFC at the time, ‘The Notorious’ essentially had the entire country of Ireland behind him.

McGregor essentially labeled himself the ‘King of Dublin’ after his first bout with the promotion. By the time he fought Max Holloway in his second octagon appearance, not only was the Irish-American population of Boston fully behind him, but it felt like thousands of traveling fans from his home country were, too.

Part of this was obviously due to McGregor’s natural charisma, but it was also largely down to the fact that, at the time, Ireland had never had a major UFC star before.

The same cannot be said for the UK, Paddy Pimblett’s home country. Not only has the country already produced superstars like Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy, but countless other UK-based athletes have entered the octagon and done well for themselves.

Sure, there’s nothing to suggest that ‘The Baddy’ can’t get the whole of the UK behind him. He was certainly popular when the UFC visited London earlier this month. However, equally, the UK is a strangely tribal country in many ways.

Pimblett, who is a proud native of Liverpool and openly supports Liverpool FC, may not garner the same kind of love from fans in Manchester, for instance, or parts of London. In fact, this may partly explain why Darren Till, another Liverpool-based fighter, was never quite able to catch on in the same way that Bisping did.

Unlike McGregor, then, ‘The Baddy’ is not a unique, original superstar looking to lead a country to success in the UFC, meaning that attempting to compare the two is tricky.