Dana White shares Paddy Pimblett's 13-year-old tweet predicting UFC future post Manchester victory: "Love this"
UFC CEO Dana White recently shared a 13-year-old tweet from Paddy Pimblett predicting his arrival in the world's biggest MMA promotion.
Many may call 'The Baddy' arrogant for his fight predictions and post-fight antics, but this bravado is nothing new for the Liverpool native, who previously laid out his UFC plans for the future in a tweet now shared by White.
Pimblett tweeted in 2011:
"@danawhite hi Dana I’m 16 years old 5-0 NSAC amateur and and a bantamweight champ in the UK guess we will be doing business in the future."
Sharing a screenshot of the tweet, White admired the vision of the rising contender and wrote:
"Love this @theufcpaddy"
Pimblett has come a long way since then, as the 29-year-old is now a regular main card attraction and a huge draw, especially for UK fans.
Making his promotional debut in 2021, 'The Baddy' is still undefeated in the UFC, with his biggest win coming this past weekend at UFC 304 against King Green. He triangle-choked the 37-year-old veteran in the first round and woke up the dozing Manchester crowd.
Dana White slams UFC 304 fighters but praises Paddy Pimblett
Dana White was reportedly upset at the lineup of fighters at UFC 304 for not fighting any harder, despite the CEO raising the bonus to $200,000.
While the media criticized White for scheduling the UK card according to U.S. time, he was disheartened at the fighters for not upping their game despite the increase in performance bonuses, a feat he might not repeat.
At the UFC 304 post-fight press conference, White went off on the seemingly underwhelming performances:
"It doesn’t make anybody fight any harder. It doesn’t change anything. I’m not doing this again. Ever. Today was the last, the last day that I’m doing that. I’m not saying that in the future, the bonuses couldn’t get up, but I’m not gonna be at a press conference, say, ‘200, 300’. F***ing never again. You can thank everybody on this card for that. Nobody fought any harder. There was no sense of urgency. ‘Holy s**t! I want the $100K!’"
Check out Dana White's comments on UFC 304 performances (3:10):
At the same press conference, the CEO was all praise for Pimblett and commended his first-round finish.
“Paddy is one of those guys that everybody talks sh*t about and everybody wants to fight him and everybody wants to call him out and he keeps winning and he looked damn good tonight and that’s why he got the 200,000. I mean I don’t think Bobby Green has been submitted since like 2009 so yeah, congrats to him. That’s the guy that came out tonight and looked like he wanted the extra 100 thousand dollars.”
Check out Dana White's comments on Paddy Pimblett's performance (0:50):
The prospect for 'The Baddy' seems utterly promising, as the Brit is riding on a six-fight win streak in the promotion. He also broke through the rankings and is currently the 15th-ranked lightweight.