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#2. Unlike Conor McGregor, Paddy Pimblett is not demanding title shots right away
When Conor McGregor first arrived in the UFC back in 2013, while he faced a lower-level opponent in his debut, journeyman Marcus Brimage, it didn’t take long for ‘The Notorious’ to make his overall intentions clear.
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From the off, McGregor wasted no time in suggesting that he was in the UFC to claim gold, namely the featherweight title then held by Jose Aldo. Were it not for a knee injury suffered in his second octagon appearance, the UFC may well have pushed him into a title bout much sooner than they did.
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Sure, observers could claim that the promotion were behind McGregor’s huge push, recognizing the burgeoning popularity of the Irishman and looking to capitalize on it. However, ‘The Notorious’ certainly went along with it.
In contrast, Paddy Pimblett has already stated that he’s got no interest in chasing UFC gold just yet and doesn’t even want to face a ranked opponent until he’s moved up the promotion’s pay scale somewhat.
That approach does make sense, as ‘The Baddy’ clearly wants to maximize his pay before really risking his record against a higher-level opponent. However, it’s completely different to the approach McGregor took. The Irishman clearly didn’t mind fighting for less money early on, as he knew the big money would lie somewhere down the line if he could keep winning.
So, with such a contrast in attitudes, it’s hard to compare Pimblett’s rise to the meteoric rise of McGregor.
#1. Conor McGregor made a much quicker step up in competition
Given that Paddy Pimblett has already stated that he doesn’t really want to face a step up in competition until he steps up the UFC’s pay scale, it could be a while until we see him face any highly-rated opponents.
Right now, ‘The Baddy’ is reportedly still making the UFC’s entry base pay, meaning he made just $24k to fight both Luigi Vendramini and Kazula Vargas, ignoring the $50k bonus he made for the latter bout.
Pimblett has stated that he’d love to renegotiate his current deal to make more money, but has also claimed that he’ll need to win “another four fights” before he faces a ranked opponent in the lightweight division.
Conor McGregor, on the other hand, wasted absolutely no time in stepping up the ladder and facing elite-level opponents.
‘The Notorious’ faced Marcus Brimage in his octagon debut and it’s probably fair to suggest that ‘The Bama Beast’ was on a similar level to Vendramini in terms of a debut opponent. However, after that, things quickly escalated for the Irishman.
Max Holloway wasn’t the force of nature he is today, but he still had three UFC wins to his name when he faced McGregor in the Irishman’s second bout. For his third and fourth fights, ‘The Notorious’ fought a TUF champion in Diego Brandao and a top 10-ranked opponent in Dustin Poirier.
Essentially, even if you consider the stacked nature of the lightweight division, it seems nearly impossible that Pimblett will face anyone close to the level of where Poirier was in 2014 in his fourth UFC bout.
So, while his rise thus far has been a fast one, it’s very unlikely that his trajectory will ever be able to be compared to that of ‘The Notorious’.
