"A guy that's showing me he's capable is Paddy Pimblett" - Belal Muhammad draws parallels between 'The Baddy's' and Conor McGregor's fan base
Belal Muhammad is in awe of fighters like Nick Diaz and Conor McGregor who can lose several fights in a row and still maintain a die-hard fanbase. Another fighter that Muhammad feels may fit this bill is Paddy Pimblett.
On a new episode of Food Truck Diaries with Brendan Schaub, Muhammad said:
"A guy that's shown me that he's capable is Paddy Pimblett. I was with him in Arizona. But it was like, the fans would ask him for a picture and he'd run inside the hotel... He walked out and the fans are going nuts. I'm like bro, how's he getting this much love, I'm standing outside the hotel in the heat taking pictures with every single one of you guys, and you guys are freaking blowing this guy up and he just ran in the hotel. How does it make sense?"
What a performance by Paddy Pimblett! Beer is thrown from crowd after to celebrate #UFCLondon https://t.co/0diQjbXDHy
Pimblett's fame during the UFC 274 weekend even eclipsed Sean O'Malley's. Belal Muhammad said:
"He walked out and he got the biggest cheer, even more than Sean O'Malley and Sean O'Malley, it's his hometown. This guy is real, but you got people that think he can knock out Charles Oliveira now. That stuff doesn't make sense."
Schaub pointed out that Pimblett has been a huge star in the U.K. for years and was capable of selling out arenas even before he signed with the UFC. He joked that Pimblett is called 'The Fifth Beatle' in Liverpool.
Watch Belal Muhammad and Brendan Schaub discuss Paddy Pimblett's fame below:
Khamzat Chimaev is looking for an opponent to beat before fighting Belal Muhammad
Belal Muhammad and Khamzat Chimaev have come to an agreement on Twitter to fight each other in Abu Dhabi when the UFC returns to Fight Island in October. Nothing has been officially signed, but as Muhammad argued, they're the two highest ranked welterweights that haven't had their shot at Kamaru Usman yet. So it makes a lot of sense.
Stop picking on guys who don’t want to fight you .. only two fighters in the top 5 that haven’t fought Kamaru winner gets next . @danawhite @seanshelby twitter.com/KChimaev/statu… https://t.co/cUZmDaV9Ri
According to Chimaev, what doesn't make sense is to wait until October for his next fight. 'Borz' started out his UFC career by fighting three times in four months. A bad case of COVID resulted in him only getting one fight in 2021, and 2022 would be a two-fight year if he waits until October. That doesn't suit 'Borz,' who took to Twitter to call out Nate Diaz once more. He wrote:
"I want to fight in August, I'm ready Nate Diaz, let's do it skinny boy"
🏼
I want to fight in august, i'm ready @NateDiaz209 let’s do it skinny boy 👊🏼💥
@danawhite ?
@ufc
August @NateDiaz209
October @bullyb170
👊🏼💥
Nate Diaz has turned down Khamzat Chimaev in the past but has just passed the one-year mark since his last UFC fight. With the Stockton fighter eager to finish up his UFC contract and test free agency, he may finally say yes to a fight with Chimaev.
Fans can check out the video below for other updates in the MMA world: