Paddy Pimblett would 'love to fight' Charles Oliveira, says his grappling game is on par with former champion
Pimblett sees a standing battle between the two fighters because he thinks they would cancel each other out on the ground
Paddy Pimblett may be coming off a fairly brutal loss to Justin Gaethje for the UFC interim lightweight championship, but he is down to take on a legend in his next fight. Pimblett responded to Charles Oliveira's BMF championship win over Max Holloway at UFC 326 by pointing out the ways he can hang with the UFC's newly-crowned "baddest motherf---er."
"I'd love to fight Charles, though," Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. "Everyone goes on about his grappling. Everyone thinks it's levels above mine, and I know it isn't. If I fought Charles, we'd probably end up having a war on the feet. Charles' resume is heavy."
Oliveira pulled off a minor upset against Holloway with a steady diet of takedowns and ground control. While that approach may not have been in the unofficial striking-first spirit of the ceremonial BMF title, it was effective in rendering Holloway as ineffective as he has been at any point in his career.
Holloway was limited to just 26 significant strikes landed, while Oliveira scored five takedowns and had just shy of 21 minutes of ground control time.
Pimblett believed that Oliveira's success was, in large part, due to Holloway's move up from featherweight to lightweight.
"Max has never really fought a grappler at lightweight, has he?" Pimblett said. "So this could be a realization for him that -- I don't know if he could even make 145 [pounds] now as he put a bit of size on, but it doesn't look like he has because he's getting manhandled."
Pimblett was a favorite when he fought Gaethje at UFC 324 but couldn't avoid the powerful strikes of Gaethje, while also unable to return enough pop of his own to back the hard-charging American down.
Making things even worse, Pimblett was unsuccessful on five takedown attempts, allowing Gaethje to even further control the fight en route to a clear decision win and the interim belt. Gaethje is now set to fight full champion Ilia Topuria in the UFC's event at the White House while Pimblett is trying to get his back on track.
Pimblett suggested that following Oliveira's path to victory against Holloway could have resulted in a win over Gaethje, even if the approach let fans seeking a striking battle down.
"No, I understand what people are saying, it's not very 'BMF-like,'" Pimblett said. "That's right, but at the same time, any way to win. I should have done more of this against Gaethje."
