Paddy Pimblett scored the most important victory of his professional MMA career on US soil with a unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon. The decision, however, was by no means the right one, according to a large section of the MMA community.
Pimblett established center control early on in the fight while Gordon exercised patience. 'Flash' had great success with his hands, landing the left hook at will. Pimblett attempted to diversify his striking with several high left kicks but Gordon looked like the sharper fighter in the first frame of the bout.
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In the second round, Jared Gordon became the aggressor, forcing Pimblett to retreat. Against the cage, Gordon controlled the clinch and avoided a rear-naked choke submission attempt from the Scouser. However, Pimblett leveled the playing field in the closing moments of the second round, landing hard shots and pressing the action that had the crowd on their feet.
Gordon attempted to use his brute strength to wear down Paddy Pimblett in the third round but 'The Baddy' avoided the takedown until the very last minute of the fight. The pair scrambled their way to the final bell.
In the end, Pimblett took home a unanimous decision (29-28) over Jared Gordon. Judges Doug Crosby and Ron McCarthy scored the first two rounds in favor of Pimblett.
The highly controversial decision was met with uproarious reactions from MMA pros and fans alike who were convinced that Gordon had done enough to emerge as the victor.
Paddy Pimblett disagrees that the UFC 282 fight against Jared Gordon was a close contest
Paddy Pimblett scraped out a unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon at UFC 282, making this the fifth decision win in 20 victories in his professional MMA career.
Despite the consensus that the co-main event of UFC 282 was a close affair, Pimblett is confident that the fight was anything but a neck-to-neck contest.
When play-by-play commentator Joe Rogan stated that it was a close contest in the post-fight interview, Pimblett replied:
"No it wasn't. That wasn't close. He just controlled me in the third. I won the first two rounds and coasted in the third. I knew I was two rounds up and I didn't want to do anything dangerous [and] risk losing the fight. I knew for a fact that I won the first two rounds pretty easily."
With this victory, Paddy Pimblett extended his UFC record to 4-0 with three finishes.
Catch Pimblett's post-fight interview below: