How can Paddy Pimblett become UFC's next global superstar? Ex-UFC veteran says Conor McGregor is the key
There are a lot of similarities between Paddy Pimblett's meteoric rise in the UFC and Conor McGregor's. The two fighters are both European exports with larger-than-life personalities. They're also both very charismatic on the mic and got things done inside the cage.
Both Paddy 'The Baddy' and 'The Notorious' created major buzz before their UFC debuts, mainly due to their success in Irish fight promotion Cage Warriors. Once they made their octagon debuts, Pimblett and McGregor more than lived up to the hype.
McGregor went on a seven-fight winning streak in his first two years in the UFC, capturing gold in the process. Following his win at UFC 314 last weekend, Paddy Pimblett is currently on a seven-fight winning streak as well.
So how does Pimblett break through the mainstream and supersede McGregor? According to former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, 'The Notorious' himself is the answer.
Schaub made a wild prediction on his YouTube channel, saying (5:12):
"So I think you're going to get, [UFC lightweight champion] Islam [Makhachev] moves up. Again, a perfect world... Islam could move up and then you have the vacant title at 55, All Paddy needs is one more. They're not going to go Paddy-Topuria right now, it doesn't make sense."
"But what makes all the sense - and will get more views - than Islam-Topiria, Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall is Conor McGregor-Paddy Pimblett. Paddy beats Connor, then Paddy becomes the biggest star in the UFC. That's a perfect world for the UFC."
Listen to Schaub's comments here:
Diving deeper into Brendan Schaub's expert analysis of what the UFC should do with Paddy Pimblett
This rather wild (but somewhat plausible) fantasy booking by Brendan Schaub is largely dependent on who wins the UFC welterweight title at UFC 315 next month in Canada. The main event will see Belal Muhammad defend his belt against Jack Della Maddalena.
The only way Schaub's theory works is if Della Maddalena wins. If Muhammad retains, then Islam Makhachev will not move up as he's friends with the welterweight champion.
If Muhammad wins and Makhachev doesn't move up, Schaub has an alternative path for Paddy Pimblett as he explained(6:39):
"If I'm the UFC, I'm strategically gonna match up Paddy to have success. I'm not saying it's an easy fight... If I'm the UFC this is what we want to do. We want to get Paddy to have enough credibility to fight for the title."
After pointing out that the two fighters Pimblett called out in his UFC 314 octagon speech, Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira, are too dangerous for him to face, Schaub made the following suggestion (7:24):
"We need to protect this kid. You would do Justin Gaethje. Justin Gaethje-Paddy Pimblett, in order to get him to the title shot... But out of the three guys at 55, you got Poirer, Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje... The one guy there with a huge hole in his game is Justin Gaethje."