Paddy Pimblett revisits and explains feud with Ariel Helwani

Despite his surge in popularity since joining the UFC, Paddy Pimblett received backlash when he made remarks about renowned reporter Ariel Helwani. He believes his comments were justified.

Helwani is the biggest name in mixed martial arts journalism and has been the face of that area of the sport for over a decade, having won 12 back-to-back MMA Journalist of the Year awards. While a number of fighters have problems with the Canadian, it is 'The Baddy' who arguably received the loudest uproar afterward.

During a recent interview with Severe MMA, Paddy Pimblett openly admitted that he was wrong for name-calling, but still insists that what he said was correct regarding the popular MMA figure:

"People turned on me for telling the truth about Ariel, lad, it's crazy... The voice note's the funniest because I said about coming to see him, I don't say on that voice note [that] I will come on The MMA Hour. I say, 'What are you doing? Do you want to meet up?' Because at the time, I actually considered Ariel a friend, but obviously I was never a friend to him, he just saw me as a pound sign... I said a few nasty words but everything else is the truth. He wanted me to cancel paid work to come and do an interview with him for free, so I don't understand how people think he's in the right."

Pimblett has retained his popularity in the sport, but since the incident with Helwani and his subsequent performance against Jared Gordon, many have begun turning their backs on the Scouser.

Check out what the captivating lightweight had to say about Ariel Helwani in the video below.:

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Paddy Pimblett's next fight: What timeline did 'The Baddy' give for his UFC return?

After his razor-close decision victory over Jared Gordon, Paddy Pimblett revealed he had suffered an ankle injury in the opponent minutes of his fight, which led to a less-than-impressive showing for the Liverpool native.

After flying back to the UK, the former Cage Warriors featherweight champion had surgery on his damaged ankle, but was alerted to the injury being much worse than he originally thought.

Having been on crutches since the surgery, Pimblett told Sky Sports News that he'd be "lucky" to compete in the UFC by the end of the year, meaning he could be out of action for over a year.