However, that discrepancy in divisions hasn’t stopped ‘Suga Sean’ from taking yet another potshot at the Liverpudlian’s massive weight fluctuations between fights, this time suggesting Pimblett would edge over the light-heavyweight limit following his upcoming ankle surgery.
“I’ve seen a video today of Paddy smoking a joint on a boat,” O’Malley balked on his BroMalley podcast. “Is that recent? Bro, this blew my mind, how fat he looked. I don’t know if it was like a recent one or it was something that was posted a long time ago. But dude, I was like, ‘Holy sh*t!’ He’s living. He’s enjoying life.”
“I wish we could find this video of Paddy,” O’Malley continued. “If someone’s seen it, they’ll know what I’m talking about. He looked thick, dude. Like, bigger than I’ve ever seen him. I bet he hits 220 [after surgery]. I dunno, supposedly he’s getting ankle surgery after that last fight. I really wanna find this video.”
This comes after Pimblett has previously claimed to suffer from an eating disorder last year.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Best Bets: UFC 283
The best of the rest
- UFC hires betting integrity firm amid probes into fight – ReviewJournal.com
- Dana White’s Power Slap debuts to 295k average viewers on TBS – MMAFighting.com
- ‘Dana White and TBS should be ashamed’ of Power Slap, says neuroscientist Chris Nowinski – MMAJunkie.com
- Henry Cejudo: As good as Jon Jones is, he’s still getting better – ‘and that’s just scary’– MMAJunkie.com
- Almost 80 UFC events later, NSAC’s move to stop disclosing purses has hurt fighters – BloodyElbow.com
The soapbox
An interesting tidbit:
Leaked footage of Khamzat toying with Magny:
Francis Ngannou’s coach ponders on healthcare:
Pros react to the Power Slap League:
No forget Jesus:
Ulberg looks for a scrap:
No wonder Paulo said ‘nah’:
Moreno hangs foul:
The morning view
Don Shianis chats about his bout opposite Jack Jenkins at UFC 284:
UFC Embedded 283 episode four:
Figgy’s trail of destruction:
Just some of the most wild rulesets for ‘MMA’ bouts:
Done Deals
Friday:
- Raul Rosas jr to fight Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287 on April 8th (per Marcel Dorff)
- Jack Shore to fight Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Alex Behunin)
Thursday:
- Valentina Shevchenko to fight Alexa Grasso at UFC 285 on March 4th (per Carlos Legaspi)
- Edson Barboza to fight Billy Quarantillo at UFC event on April 15th (per Billy Quarantillo)
- Dustin Jacoby to fight Azamat Murzakanov at UFC event on April 15th (per Nolan King)
- TJ Brown to fight Bill Algeo at UFC event on April 15th (per Mike Heck)
- Rob Font to fight Adrian Yanez at #UFC287 on April 8th (per Mike Heck)
- Francis Marshall to fight William Gomis at UFC event on April 22nd (per La Sueur)
Wednesday:
- Petr Yan to fight Merab Dvalishvili at UFC Vegas 71 on March 11th (per The Las Vegas Review-Journal)
- Martin Buday to fight Jake Collier at UFC event on April 15th (per Nolan King)
- Ignacio Bahamondes to fight Nikolas Motta at UFC 287 on April 8th (per Carlos Legaspi)
- Iasmin Lucindo to fight Melissa Martinez at UFC event on April 22nd (per MMA Melotto)
Tuesday:
- Michelle Waterson-Gomez to fight Luana Pinheiro at UFC 287 on April 8th (per Brett Okamoto)
- Muhammad Mokaev to fight Jafel Filho at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Brett Okamoto)
- Karol Rosa to fight Norma Dumont at UFC event on April 22nd (per AG Fight)
Monday:
- Jon Jones to fight Cyril Gane for the Vacant UFC heavyweight title at UFC 285 on March 4th (per Dana White/T-Mobile Arena staff 😂 )
- Champion Leon Edwards to fight Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 on March 18th (per UFC announcement)
- Justin Gaethje to fight Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Brett Okamoto)
- Junior Tafa to fight Austen Lane at UFC 284 on February 11th (per ESPN)
UFC Roster Watch
Fighters removed this week:
- Francis Ngannou
- Sijara Eubanks
- Michael Trizano
- Liudvik Sholinian
- Marcelo Rojo
- Jay Perrin
- Alejandro Perez
- Raulian Paiva
- Gadzhi Omargadzhiev
- Kevin Natividad
- Vince Morales
- Brandon Davis
- Carlos Mota
- Jeff Molina
Fighters Added this week:
- Junior Tafa
- Christian Duncan
- Elves Brenner
- Gabriel Bonfim
- Ismael Bonfim
- Brunno Ferreira
- Daniel Marcos
Credit to UFC Roster Watch
On this day in MMA…
On the 20th of January, 2018, at UFC 220, Stipe Miocic defended the UFC heavyweight title for a historic third time, setting the record for the most consecutive championship defenses in the 265-pound division.
It was no small task. The part-time firefighter drew the surging giant (and current lineal UFC heavyweight champion) Francis Ngannou in the headline bout.
Ngannou, riding a ten-fight win streak into the affair, and having just uppercut veteran Alistair Overeem into oblivion, entered the bout as a -190 favorite – most pundits banking on the ‘ford escort’ like power in ‘The Predator’s fists. But what took place as the fight unfolded cemented Miocic’s position as the greatest heavyweight of all time.
The underdog employed footwork and evasiveness rarely seen in the heavyweight division and utilized his wrestling acumen to nullify the Cameroonian giant’s weapons and sap him of all energy – to the point that Ngannou landed no more than six strikes in total after the first round.
Miocic would win a unanimous decision victory on the judge’s scorecards after five rounds, halting the rising star in his tracks… for a time.