Paddy Pimblett eyes second shot at UFC gold

Pimblett believes another title opportunity is still within reach but knows he likely needs more than one win to get there.

Paddy Pimblett firmly believes that, despite missing his first chance, he’ll still get a second shot at the UFC lightweight title.

After Paddy Pimblett lost to Justin Gaethje in January and with it, his chance at the interim title, he focused on getting back on track. This Saturday, he’ll face Benoît Saint Denis, hoping to get back on the path to the title. If he succeeds, he spoke about how he would assess his chances against Justin Gaethje should a rematch take place.

“I think it was fate that (Gaethje) beat me. It was his destiny to beat me so that he could go on and win at the White House lawn against Ilia when no one gave him a chance. I just think it was destiny and I think if we fought again I’d win.”

Although Paddy Pimblett seems to be looking toward his future with a lot of confidence, he realizes that a win probably wouldn't be enough to put him back in contention for the title right away.

"I'll have to beat somebody else first and I’m more than willing to do so. I’ll keep fighting until I end up winning that belt.”

he said.

So he’s aware of what he needs to do to get another shot at the title. A win against Benoît Saint Denis would give him a boost and would definitely put him in a good position to contend for the title. Maybe he’ll manage to fully prove himself again this year to make a title fight possible. First, though, he has to defeat Benoît Saint Denis to make those dreams come true, and that’s no easy task either. After all, Benoît Saint Denis is pursuing the exact same goal as Paddy Pimblett and will go into this fight fully motivated as well. So we’ll see on Saturday who will be in the running for a title in the near future.

Personally, I think Paddy Pimblett’s hunger is very strong, but maybe he should really focus 100% on Saturday’s fight first before getting too caught up in the future. However, if he comes out of this fight victorious, I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from him.