One PPV is all it takes! From most loved to most hated: How Paddy Pimblett and Khamzat Chimaev turned villains in the eyes of fight fans
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Paddy Pimblett and Khamzat Chimaev (Image Courtesy - YouTube)
With great trash-talking comes great consequences! If it happened to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279, it was bound to happen to Paddy Pimblett after the recent debacle with the reputed journalist.
The UFC gives fighters all the freedom to express themselves and doesn’t silence its fighters from saying “wild sh**” on the microphone. While good skills on the mic can prove to be a good compliment to one’s skills inside the octagon, it sure does come with a price. Fans love a brash, rowdy, trash-talking fighter until the fighters cross the line that can only be known once crossed.
Paddy Pimblett, following the injury of UFC 282 original headliner, Jiri Prochazka, has turned out to be the face of the last PPV event of the year 2022. Pimblett was riding on a wave of love from the fans after his first three performances inside the UFC octagon and was a huge fan favorite. However, just days before the event he has gone on to paint himself as the villain, by starting a feud with reputed MMA journalist, Ariel Helwani.
Pimblett went from the most-loved fighter to the most hated after a single podcast episode featuring the UFC head honcho himself, Dana White. This turns out to be similar to that of another UFC rising superstar named Khamzat Chimaev, whose love from the fans went from 100 to 0 real quick after his weigh-in fiasco and unapologetic attitude.
Has Paddy Pimblett pulled off a Khamzat Chimaev?
Khamzat Chimaev took the UFC by storm and was everyone’s new favorite fighter. The fighter’s brash character and “smesh everybody” phrase stuck with fight fans until he was matched against one of the most-loved fighters of all time in mixed martial arts, Nate Diaz. No one wanted to see the monster that is Chimaev “smesh” a legend like Diaz. To make things worse, the fighter went on to miss weight by a huge margin and then be unapologetic after all the trash talk in the lead-up.
The fighter had to be rescheduled to fight Kevin Holland at the end whom he defeated with ease. Chimaev doubled down on being the villain by giving a big “F u” to the crowd in the post-fight octagon interview which added more fuel to the hate towards the Chechen fighter.
How did fans begin to hate Paddy Pimblett?
Recently on his own YouTube channel, Pimblett put on a podcast featuring the UFC boss as his guest. Dana White and Paddy the Baddy went on a tirade against Ariel Helwani, who is a known adversary to the UFC boss. Helwani also happened to be one of the first mainstream media journalists that gave exposure to the talented Pimblett before his introduction to the UFC.
Helwani’s response to Pimblett’s “ungrateful” rant went viral as the journalist came with receipts showing how the fighter was wrong. This swung the pendulum for Pimblett as the fans put him on blast for siding with Dana White, who has been criticized by fans and the media for treating fighters poorly.
paddy pimblett reading the comments and realising everyone's against him. pic.twitter.com/ybGb1ELkpL
— Dovy? (@DovySimuMMA) December 8, 2022
Also read: Dana White calls fan a “Di*k” for asking UFC boss about fighter’s pay
Pimblett is currently undefeated in the UFC and now has a tough challenge in Jared Gooden waiting ahead of him. Paddy The Baddy being the brilliant showman himself, wouldn’t mind all the bad publicity he is getting right now given, “Any publicity is good publicity.” Chimaev and Pimblett’s road seems to be very similar in terms of their hype. Two rising stars turning villain in the eyes of the fans over something rather “insignificant” in the big picture. Pimblett has huge potential and it will be exciting to see what the rising star can make do with this wave behind him.
Also read: Back in Time! When Paddy Pimblett vomited “Blood” inside the octagon
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Prateek Athanur
(2974 Articles Published)