5 potential next opponents for Paddy Pimblett
Paddy Pimblett made his UFC debut with a bang, knocking out Luigi Vendramini in the first round at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till. The finish earned 'The Baddy' a 'Performance of the Night' bonus and saw him live up to the hype that surrounded him ahead of last weekend's event.
Paddy Pimblett turned down the opportunity to join the UFC on two separate occasions. However, he finally accepted their offer earlier this year. Having honed his skills for years in the Cage Warriors promotion, Pimblett was confident he could immediately become a factor in the UFC lightweight division.
Few debuts in recent memory have been as highly anticipated as Paddy Pimblett's, and his sensational performance got a lot of people talking. Fans will now begin to look forward to his next bout to see if he can continue to live up to expectations.
With that said, here are five potential next opponents for the Liverpudlian:
#5. Alexander Hernandez vs. Paddy Pimblett
Alexander 'The Great' Hernandez may be the fighter on this list operating at the highest level. But there are several potential issues with a clash between him and Pimblett.
Hernandez is already scheduled to take on Leonardo Santos on October 2. With Pimblett likely to be after a second fight soon, scheduling could be a problem. 'The Great' may also be too big of a step up in competition for Pimblett at the moment. The UFC matchmakers may want to avoid their latest cash cow losing his hype.
For this fight to happen, Hernandez would likely need to lose to Santos in a fashion that sees him keen to return to action as soon as possible. Perhaps at that point, the UFC would go ahead and pair him with Pimblett for a fight towards the end of this year.
Additionally, while Hernandez is very skilled and even boasts a first-round KO of the No.3-ranked Beneil Dariush, he has also been on the wrong end of a highlight-reel finish.
If this bout was to happen and Paddy Pimblett was able to find success against Hernandez, his star power would sky-rocket.